READINGS  FROM 

COLONIAL  PROSE 

AND   POETRY 


PRENT- WELLS 


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4 


CAPTAIN     JOHN     SMITH 


Colonial  Prose  and  Poetry 


EDITED    BY 
WILLIAM    P.    TRENT 

AND 

BENJAMIN    W.    WELLS 


THE 
TRANSPLANTING    OF   CULTURE 

1607-1650 


NEW    YORK 

THOMAS    Y.    CROWELL   CO. 

PUBLISHERS 


4 


Copyright,  1901,  1903, 
By  THOMAS  Y.   CROWELL  &  CO. 


PREFACE. 

The  present  series  of  volumes  illustrating  the  lit— 
ature  of  the  American  colonies  aims  especially  to 
now  the  development  of  national  culture  and  ideals. 
Although  not  eschewing  them,  it  does  not  deal  pri- 
marily with  political  life  or  with  historical  interests. 
It  attempts  to  present  mainly  in  modernized  spelling 
such  passages  from  the  works  of  colonial  authors 
as  reveal  most  of  literary  art,  of  individual  genius, 
and  of  the  national  mind  in  the  process  of  its  differ- 
entiation. 

That  the  survey  might  be  full  yet  not  prolix  the 
selections  have  often  been  shortened  by  the  omission 
of  passages  that  would  weary  a  modern  reader,  but 
such  omissions  have  always  been  indicated,  and  care 
has  been  taken  that  they  should  not  be  of  a  character 
to  affect  the  sense  of  what  remains.  The  literature 
of  any  nation  in  its  formative  period  requires  win- 
nowing if  it  is  to  attract  that  same  nation  in  its 
maturity  ;  for  much  is  antiquated  that  is  neither  sig- 
nificant nor  curious.  Yet  our  colonial  writers  bear 
comparison  with  those  of  any  other  race  under  simi- 
lar conditions.      Many  who  have  gone  to  them  with 


42777u 


IV  N  PREFACE. 

a  smile  have  remained  to  be  edified.  In  the  earlier 
period  men  lived  earnestly  if  not  largely,  they  thought 
highly  if  not  broadly,  they  felt  nobly  if  not  always  J 
with  magnanimity.  Resourcefulness,  self-reliance, 
individuality,  were  the  virtues  fashioned  by  primitive  $ 
circumstances,  and  these  asserted  themselves  in  the 
later  period  as  more  enduring  elements  in  the  national 
character  than  the  Cavalier  traditions  of  Virginia  or 
the  Puritanism  of  l^ew  England. 

It  'is,  then,  the  gradual  transformation  of  the 
national  literature  with  the  national  character  that 
is  exhibited  in  these  volumes.  Brief  accounts  are 
given  of  each  author,  and  the  essays  at  the  beginning 
of  the  several  volumes  endeavor  to  gather  up  the 
characteristics  of  each  period  and  to  draw  from  them 
their  lessons  with  regard  to  national  evolution.  Where 
special  obligations  to  books  and  editors  are  due,  they 
have  been  acknowledged  in  the  text  ;  here  hearty 
thanks  are  tendered  to  the  courteous  officials  of  the 
library  of  Columbia  University. 


CONTENTS. 


Introduction     . 
Captain  John  Smith 
Colonel  Norwood 
William  Bradford 
Mourt's  Relation 
Thomas  Morton 
Francis  Higginson 
John  Winthrop 
The  Bay  Psalm  Book 
John  Underhill 
John  Mason     . 
John  Cotton     . 
Roger  Williams 
Thomas  Hooker 
Thomas  Shepard 
Nathaniel  Ward 
Anne  Bradstreet 


PAGE 

vii 

i 

23 

34 

65 

7° 

80 

90 

120 

127 

140 

156 

182 

214 

230 

250 

271 


INTRODUCTION. 


tury  and  a  half,  cannot  be  regarded  (even  by  the 
charitable)  as  being  of  great  intrinsic  value.  The 
interest  that  it  possesses  is  political,  social,  or  reli- 
gious, not  literary  or  imaginative.  And  yet  it  gives 
to  the  critic  of  literature  an  opportunity,  such  as  the 
beginnings  of  hardly  any  other  literature  afford,  to 
study  the  effects  of  environment  upon  the  literary 
powers  and  products  of  a  transplanted  race. 

It  is  usually  held  that  transplantation  to  the  Ameri- 
can wilderness  repressed  the  literary  powrers  of  the 
colonists  who  were  too  busy  planting  corn  and  re- 
pelling Indians  to  devote  much  attention  to  literature. 
Yet  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  colonists  repre- 
sented stocks  that  on  the  whole  showed  no  great 
literary  vitality  at  home.  Except  for  Milton,  Mar- 
veil,  and  a  few  less  important  names,  Puritanism  did 
extremely  little  for  English  poetry,  not  much  for 
English  prose.  Nor  did  the  Cavaliers,  as  a  body 
outside  of  the  court  circle,  rise  in  England  greatly 
above  the  level  of  Virginia  culture.  Transplantation, 
it  may  be  suspected',  neither  developed  nor  retarded 
the  production  of  imaginative  literature,  but  the  new 
environment  in  New  England  did  have  a  very  con- 
siderable effect  in  directing  writers  to  pietistic  and 
controversial  subjects,  for  religion  was  the  only  ideal 


Vlll  INTRODUCTION. 

element  in  Puritan  life,  and  the  main  feature  of  their 
relations  with  the  outside  world. 

During  the  period  covered  by  this  volume  there 
were,  as  we  have  just  assumed,  two  centres  of  influ- 
ence, Virginia  and  Massachusetts,  Cavalier  and  Puri- 
tan, the  former  an  extension  of  county  England, 
the  latter  of  English  borough  life.  Or,  to  use  literary 
symbols  and  to  compare  small  things  with  great,  the 
two  earliest  colonies  represented  respectively  the 
England  of  Herrick,  Carew,  and  Lovelace,  and 
the  England  of  Milton,  Bunyan,  and  Baxter.  At 
the  very  outset  we  meet  with  a  typical  Cavalier,  a 
burly  survival  of  knight-errantry,  Captain  John  Smith, 
and  he,  though  not  strictly  speaking  an  American, 
is  typical  of  the  adventurers,  English  country  gentle- 
men, younger  sons,  plain  town  and  country  folk,  who 
settled  the  southern  colony.  They  were  uncourtly 
but  yet  genuinely  aristocratic,  and,  developing  the 
aristocratic  virtues  of  bravery  and  lavish  hospitality, 
they  formed  a  sort  of  feudal  nobility  whose  qualities 
were  accentuated  by  plantation  life  and  by  the  ab- 
sence of  metropolitan  standards.  They  brought  with 
them  no  deep-seated  artistic  impulses,  few  inherited 
literary  traditions.  They  produced  little  literature 
and  developed  'little  culture.  The  repression  of 
learning  and  the  printing  press  was  the  least  of  their 
grievances  against  Governor  Berkeley,  even  as  late  as 
1676.  They  lived  quite  aloof  from  the  political 
struggles  of  their  time,  and  were  quite  untouched  by 
its  scientific  or  artistic  achievements. 

And  if  we  turn  to  Massachusetts  the  case  is  not 
much  better,  though  it  is  different.  There  was  here 
a  nobler  purpose.       Such    leaders   as   Bradford  and 


INTRODUCTION.  IX 

Winthrop  do  not  lack  inspiring  qualities,  nor  such 
figures  as  those  of  Captain  Standish,  the  apostolic  John 
Eliot,  the  tolerant  Roger  Williams,  and  the  whole 
intolerant,  but  pious,  learned,  and  commanding  Brah- 
min caste  of  Puritan  divines,  qualities  quaintly  pic- 
turesque and  attractive.  But,  when  all  is  said,  the 
annals  of  Colonial  New  England  also  are  sadly 
wanting  in  perspective.  The  sober  aristocracy  of 
clergymen  and  magistrates,  the  plain  democracy  of 
God-fearing  farmers,  thrifty  merchants,  hardy  fisher- 
men and  sailors,  have,  it  is  true,  an  interest  for  latter- 
day  Americans.  Hawthorne  has  shown  how  their 
life  lent  itself  to  literary  treatment.  But  they  did 
not  discover  it.  Even  though  their  numerous  towns 
gave  them  what  Virginia  lacked,  the  advantages  of 
social  solidarity,  they  too  had  no  deep-seated  artistic 
impulses  and  few  inherited  literary  instincts  and  as- 
pirations. Their  thoughts  were  bent  on  religion. 
In  this  they  lived  and  of  this  they  wrote.  But  their 
religion  was  narrow,  individualistic,  voicing  itself  not 
in  a  Divi?ie  Comedy,  which  they  would  have  rejected, 
but  in  a  Day  of  Doom,  which  they  took  literally  to 
heart.  Yet  the  muses  were  not  without  witness  in 
either  colony,  and,  though  it  is  impossible  here  to 
describe  adequately  this  exiguous  production,  it  is 
worth  while  to  remind  the  reader  or  its  existence, 
that  he  may  have  some  conception  of  the  range  of 
those  writings  whose  quality  the  following  pages  are 
to  illustrate.  And  for  our  purposes  it  will  be  most 
perspicuous  to  consider  first  the  writers  of  verse,  few 
of  whom  yield  materials  for  our  use,  then  the  annal- 
ists, and  finally  the  theologians. 

Such  verse  writing  as  there  was  at  first  naturally 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

followed  British  models,  which  is  one  reason  for  giv- 
ing it  attention  before  the  work  that  is  more  directly 
a  product  of  the  new  environment  and  experiences. 
Most  of  the  annalists  lapsed  into  verse  at  times, 
following  the  distinguished  example  of  John  Smith, 
but  none  of  them,  or  of  the  clergy,  shows  in  the 
first  generations  anything  that  springs  from  the  heart 
of  the  people,  or  even  any  transmutation  of  alien 
culture.  Individuals  write  as  best  they  may  accord- 
ing to  familiar  British  models,  just  as  most  of  our 
poets  do  to-day.  Of  this  fact  our  first  quasi-Ameri- 
can poem,  Rich's  New es  from  Virginia,  is  an  illus- 
tration. The  sojourn  in  America  of  this  "  soldier 
blunt  and  plain"  was  brief,  and  literary  Virginia 
has  no  cause  to  dispute  his  possession  with  the  mother 
country  ;  though  during  the  colonial  period  that  colony 
had  little  verse  that  is  nameworthy,  save  the  eulogy 
of  Nathaniel  Bacon  in  the  "  Epitaph  made  by  his 
Man,"  probably  the  only  single  product  of  sustained 
poetic  art  written  in  the  first  century  and  a  half  of 
Colonial  America,  but  by  a  poet  who  has  left  us  not 
even  the  shadow  of  his  name. 

In  New  England,  as  might  have  been  expected, 
the  general  average  of  versification  was  less  crude 
and  the  versifiers  far  more  numerous,  society  being 
more  serious-minded  and  far  more  scholarly.  Gov- 
ernor Bradford  and  Governor  Winthrop  both  wrote 
occasional  verses  of  ponderous  meditation,  William 
Morrell  and  William  Wood  composed  descriptive 
verses,  as  did  the  anonymous  author  of  New  Eng- 
land's  Annoyances,  but  these  can  pass  for  poetry  only 
by  comparison  with  the  superlative  crudity  of  the 
Bay  Psalm  Book,  the  first  volume  printed  in  British 


INTRODUCTION.  XI 

America.  Very  little  better  is  the  swarm  of  epi- 
taphs, elegies,  and  memorial  verses,  though  the  divines 
that  made  these  feeble  concessions  to  despised  art 
were  not  unable  to  hold  their  own  with  their  British 
brethren.  The  larger  part  of  this  verse  is  embedded 
in  the  prose  works,  like  flies  in  very  cloudy  amber, 
else  surely  it  had  never  seen  even  an  opaque  light. 
Typical  of  this  constant  "dropping  into  verse  "  is 
Nathaniel  Ward's  Simple  Cobbler  3  of  which  pres- 
ently. 

There  is  but  one  person,  during  the  period  we  are 
considering,  who  might  have  been  and  is  almost  a 
poet,  Mrs.  Anne  Bradstreet,  "the  tenth  Muse  lately 
sprung  up  in  America,"  as  her  brother-in-law  called 
her,  daughter  and  wife  of  Colonial  Governors,  and 
not  unworthy  to  have  graced  a  chair  in  Madeleine 
de  Scudery's  famous  Salon  of  the  Precieuses,  or  even 
in  the  Chambre  Bleue  of  Arthenice,  though  she  was 
ever  a  sturdy  Puritan,  and  as  one  of  her  admirers  said 
"  a  right  DuBartas  girl."  Examples  of  her  poetry 
and  an  encomium  of  it  will  be  found  elsewhere.  We 
are  concerned  now  to  note  the  instant  response  of  the 
colonists  in  their  appreciation  of  the  "  fair  authoress." 
Their  clumsy  tributes  show  a  naive  admiration,  which 
suggests  that  they  would  have  appreciated  better 
poetry,  though  it  is  a  curious  fact  that  we  have  no 
trace  of  the  existence  of  a  copy  of  Shakespeare  in 
New  England  during  the  seventeenth  century.  Yet 
she  had  little  rhetorical  art,  and  seems  blind  to  the 
natural  beauty  about  her.  In  style,  form,  and  subject 
she,  too,  is  an  echo  of  Puritan  England,  though  show- 
ing in  her  maturity  more  of  the  influence  of  Spenser 
than  of  Sylvester  or  of  Quarles.      It  is  a  curious  fact 


xn  INTRODUCTION. 

in  literary  heredity  that  among  Mrs.  Bradstreet's 
descendants  are  the  poets  R.  H.  Dana  and  Oliver 
Wendell  Holmes,  and  the  orator  Wendell  Phillips. 
Her  father  and  sister  also  wrote  verses,  and  among 
others  who  essayed  poetry  may  be  named  Captain 
Edward  Johnson,  John  Josselyn,  and  even  Roger 
Williams.  The  last  estate  of  poetry  in  the  century 
was  perhaps  its  most  desperate  one.  Peter  Folger 
in  his  Looking  Glass  for  the  Times  is  absolutely  the 
most  garrulously  naive  and  the  most  unpoetic  of  his 
land  and  century.  His  poem  is  the  Ormulum  of 
America  and  it  betters  the  instruction. 

The  typical  versifier  of  Puritan  New  England  is 
doubtless  Michael  Wigglesworth,  and  the  typical 
poem  the  Day  of  Doom,  an  awful,  but  to  the  Puritan 
mind,  congenial  theme,  in  treating  which  he  displayed 
not  a  little  curious  ingenuity.  He  was  the  most 
facile  and  prolific  of  what  we  may  call  the  school  of 
Sternhold  and  Hopkins.  Wigglesworth  and  Folger 
are,  however,  reserved  for  treatment  in  our  second 
volume,  when  we  enter  upon  a  new  poetic  order 
corresponding  to  a  moral  and  social  change.  The 
religious  commonwealth  is  becoming  secular,  life  is 
no  longer  a  series  of  vicissitudes,  love  of  wealth 
and  comfort  is  beginning  to  supplant  the  fear  of  the 
Lord.  Let  us  therefore  retrace  our  steps  and  watch 
the  progress  of  the  same  change  in  those  prose  annals 
and  tractates  in  which  the  sturdy  colonists  found 
a  more  congenial  and  appropriate  form  of  self- 
expression. 

The  first  prose  efforts  of  the  colonists,  whether  in 
New  England  or  Virginia,  were  naturally  confined 
to  sending  home  news  of  their  doings  that  might  pro- 


INTRODUCTION.  xiii 

cure  them  companions  in  arms  and  labors.  Here 
priority  in  time,  and  perhaps  primacy  in  interest,  be- 
longs to  Captain  John  Smith's  True  Relation,  to 
which  indeed  American  literature  can  lay  but  scant 
claim,  any  more  than  to  similar  writings  of  Percy, 
Strachey,  Pory,  and  Whittaker.  These  told  of  the 
first  years  of  struggle.  In  the  fairly  prosperous 
period  that  followed  there  was  a  decided  lull  in 
literary  activity  until  a  certain  Colonel  Norwood  nar- 
rated to  Sir  William  Berkeley  his  hairbreadth  'scapes 
on  a  voyage  to  Virginia.  His  story  is  interesting  to 
us  as  a  witness  to  the  growing  suppleness  of  English 
prose.  Norwood  was  no  artist,  but  he  had  at  least 
got  rid  of  much  of  the  cumbrous  phraseology  of  his 
predecessors.  Yet  for  the  moment  in  Virginia  his 
example  availed  little.  The  government  was  dis- 
tinctly illiberal,  the  Governor  an  obscurantist.  "  I 
thank  God,"  he  said,  "  there  are  no  free  schools  nor 
printing,  and  hope  we  shall  not  have  them  this  hun- 
dred year.  For  learning  has  brought  disobedience 
and  heresy  and  sects  into  the  world,  and  printing  has 
divulged  them,  and  libels  against  the  best  govern- 
ment. God  keep  us  from  both."  It  is  a  nemesis  of 
such  illiberality  that  what  is  best  worth  reading  of 
the  annals  of  Colonial  Virginia  in  this  century  should 
be  the  narratives  of  Bacon's  rebellion  against  it. 

Meantime  Virginia's  northern  neighbor  Maryland 
had  produced  the  scholarly  Latin  Relatio  of  the  Jesuit 
White,  Hammond's  Leah  and  Rachel  and  George 
Alsop's  quaint  Character  of  the  Province  of  Mary- 
land. The  latter's  prose  is  better  than  his  "melan- 
choly Muse,"  who  by  the  way  is  apt  to  be  a  very 
indecorous  person.      If  we  pass  from    Maryland  to 


XIV  INTRODUCTION. 

the  northern  colonies,  we  find  ourselves  among  a 
people  not  literary  perhaps,  yet  intellectual  and  imagi- 
native, a  people  who  stood  for  an  idea,  who  felt 
that  they  were  the  vanguard  of  freedom,  religious 
and  civil.  That  such  men  would  write  much  and 
vigorously  was  a  matter  of  course.  It  was  part  of 
their  duty  to  give  an  account  of  themselves  before 
man  as  well  as  God,  and  so  their  habits,  their 
thoughts,  are  better  known  to  us  than  those  of  any 
colonists  anywhere.  All  the  communities  from  Maine 
to  Connecticut  had  common  characteristics.  The 
plain  people  were  pious,  hardy,  thrifty.  The  Brah- 
min caste,  their  spiritual  masters,  were  very  learned, 
their  magistrates  God-fearing,  and  all  were  bound 
together  by  religious  sympathies,  solidified  _aj__j 
strengthened  by  external  pressure  In  self-justifica- 
"tion,  in  seTF-defence,  as  witness  to  God  and  man, 
the  clergy,  and  the  magistrates  too,  plied  their  pens, 
and  as  early  as  1639  had  provided  themselves  with 
a  printing  press.  They  cared  little  for  poetry__or 
art^  The  contxoversy_aL_God  wj_th_Ne.w  England, 
or  of  New  England  with  everybody ._el.se*  was  what 
interested  them,  whether  they  were  telling  their  story 
or  preaching  their  sermon,  expounding  their  creed 
or  illustrating  it  by  their  example. 

First  of  the  annalists  is  the  dignified,  sober,  and 
benign  William  Bradford  of  Plymouth,  with  his 
co-partner  in  the  Relation ,  .Edward  Winslow,  both 
capable  of  a  more  humane  humor  than  Francis  Higgin- 
son  of  Salem,  a  beautifully  pious  soul,  naively  crcdu 
lous.  Rather  credulous,  too,  is  William  Wood,  though 
he  was  an  acute  observer,  with  a  faculty  of  appro- 
priate epithet  that  marks  the  progress  of  prose  writ 


INTRODUCTION.  XV 

ing.  Wood  is  not  included  in  these  pages,  but  room 
is  found  for  John  Underhill,  who  is  worthy  of  note 
for  his  singular  faculty  of  discerning  special  provi- 
dences. He  yields  in  this,  however,  to  John  Mason, 
who  would  perhaps  have  been  surprised  to  be  told 
that  his  miracle  of  the  intoxicating  bottle  had  been 
anticipated  by  six  centuries  in  the  legend  of  the 
Irish  saint  Ludigus.  More  sober  and  statesmanlike 
is  the  writing  of  John  Winthrop,  though  he  too  does 
not  escape  superstition  ;  while  of  wholly  different 
yet  not  unattractive  type  is  the  rough,  uncouth  par- 
tisan Edward  Johnson  ;  and  in  curious  contrast  to 
them  both  is  the  Mephistophelian  Thomas  Morton. 
These  were  laymen.  After  the  middle  of  the  cen- 
tury the  clergy,  save  for  John  Josselyn,  the  judicious 
Daniel  Gookin,  and  a  few  others,  take  the  lead  both 
as  annalists  and  as  burdeners  of  the  press  with  their  ser- 
mons and  treatises.  Meantime  in  the  Middle  Colonies 
a  few  chroniclers  had  arisen,  of  whom  Daniel  Denton 
is  here  representative.  One  cannot  take  leave  of 
these  historical  writers  as  a  whole  without  paying 
tribute,  not  alone  to  their  piety  and  learning,  where 
they  claimed  it,  but  to  their  xourageous  optimism, 
their  generaj_intel]ectual  sanity,  their  essential  manli- 
ness. Annalists  like  these  were  no  bad  founders  of  a 
national  literature. 

But  when  we  think  of  the  writing  of  this  period, 
what  rises  in  the  popular  mind,  and  justly,  is  its 
_theology\  Not  indeed  in  the  Middle  Colonies  or  in  the 
South,  though  there  were  a  few  noteworthy  divines 
even  there,  but  in  New  England  where  a  practical 
theocracy  was  to  be  seen  in  full  flower.  Easy-going 
planters  might  put  up  with  clergymen   of  no  intel- 


XVI  INTRODUCTION. 

lectual  attainments,  even  with  those  whose  morals  did 
something  smack,  but  to  a  theocracy  an  intelligent 
priesthood  is  essential,  and  there  were  special  reasons 
in  New  England  that  fostered  literature  in  fostering 
autocracy.  An  Englishman  does  not  readily  submit 
to  superiors,  and  to  assert  their  dominance  the  New 
England  clergy  must  needs  be  great  counsellors,  secu- 
lar and  religious,  great  scholars,  preachers,  and  great 
private  characters.  These  sturdy  Puritans  were  ultra 
Protestants,  prone  to  follow  the  workings  of  their 
own  minds.  To  dominate  them  the  clergy  had  to 
be  acute  logicians  and  powerful  reasoners.  Narrow 
they  might  be  ;  but  of  power,  of  sheer  indomitable 
force,  no  body  of  citizens  and  no  caste  have  ever 
been  such  complete  exemplars  as  the  New  England 
Puritans,  unless  perhaps  the  Arabs  under  Mahomet, 
or  the  Frenchmen  of  the  early  Revolution.  Both  their 
isolation  and  their  previous  history  contributed  to  the 
intensity  of  their  convictions.  Among  these  exiles 
for  truth  the  pastors  appear  to  us  as  heroes  of  spirit- 
ual combat,  praying  and  preaching  for  hours  together, 
rebuking  the  froward,  counselling  magistrates  with 
authority  in  their  election  sermons,  moulding  youth,  as 
appears  in  their  New  England  Primer,  wrestling  with 
heretics,  witches,  Satan,  and  God.  These  priests 
appear  to  us  as  prophets,  as  uncrowned  kings  of  the 
faithful.  In  their  isolation  they  felt  themselves  set 
upon  a  hill,  under  obligation  to  give  account  for  them- 
selves to  their  English  brethren,  forced,  too,  to  use 
every  means  to  maintain  their  power  ;  hence,  as 
we  have  seen,  their  speedy  importation  of  the  print- 
ing press,  which  groaned  as  an  instrument  of  God's 
glory  with   learned  sermons,  theological  and  historical 


INTRODUCTION.  xvil 

treatises.  In  those  days  church,  pastor,  and  sermon 
took  the  place  of  our  theatres,  newspapers,  lectures, 
novels,  and  stump-speaking.  The  meeting-house  was 
the  centre  of  town  life,  the  minister  the  centre  of  the 
church.  He  was  usually  a  college-bred  man,  almost 
always  a  voluminous  writer,  and,  though  no  one  of 
them  in  our  period  survives  outside  the  anthological 
limbo,  it  is  surprising  to  find  how  many,  even  of  the 
more  obscure,  showed  imaginative  force,  ponderous 
learning,  and  literary  power  of  no  mean  order. 
Measured  by  literary  standards  the  greatest  of  them 
was  that  stone  rejected  of  the  builders,  Roger  Will- 
iams ;  but  our  extracts  will  show  that  John  Cotton, 
Thomas  Hooker,  Thomas  Shepard,  and  John  Eliot 
were  also  able  writers  of  their  kind,  while  surely  the 
most  unique  scold  in  our  literature  is  the  "Simple 
Cobbler,"  Nathaniel  Ward.  Yet  for  all  their  zeal 
and  power  they  were  fighting  a  losing  fight  against 
nature.  The  spirit  rebelled  as  well  as  the  flesh. 
The  end  of  the  century  is  filled  with  lamentations, 
which  already  in  our  period  begin  to  make  themselves 
audible,  of  a  change  in  the  old  order.  Their  vault- 
ing spiritual  ambition  had  defeated  itself.  But  the 
crisis  of  that  period  belongs  to  a  second  period,  whose 
early  writers,  together  with  several  of  those  here 
named,  to  whom  the  division  of  our  materials  makes 
it  expedient  to  recur,  finds  place  in  the  second 
volume. 


CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH. 

Captain  John  Smith  was  born  at  Willoughby  in 
Lincolnshire,  in  January,  1579.  He  died  at  London 
on  the  2 1  st  of  June,  1632.  Yet  that  part  of  his  life 
to  which  he  owes  distinction  was  passed  in  America, 
and  it  is  his  account  of  it  that  gives  him  his  place 
here.  The  son  of  a  tenant  farmer,  apprenticed  to 
trade  at  fifteen,  he  ran  away  to  serve  under  Lord 
Willoughby  in  the  Netherlands  and  afterward  in 
Hungary  and  Transylvania,  against  the  Turks.  He 
was  captured,  enslaved,  escaped  to  Russia,  returned 
to  England  in  1605,  and  the  next  year  accom- 
panied Newport's  expedition  to  Virginia,  apparently 
not  without  conflict  with  the  authorities.  Their  op- 
position was  overcome  by  his  energy  in  exploration 
and  his  success  in  obtaining  supplies.  While  explor- 
ing the  James  River  in  1607,  he  was  captured 
by  Indians,  brought  before  their  chief,  Powhatan, 
saved  as  he  claimed  from  death  by  the  intervention 
of  that  "  Numpareil  of  Virginia,"  Pocahontas,  and 
sent  back  to  Jamestown  after  six  weeks'  captivity. 
Later  he  explored  the  Chesapeake,  was  for  a  time 
Colonial  President,  returned  to  England  in  1609, 
and  in  1614  explored  the  coast  of  New  England 
from  Penobscot  to  Cape  Cod.  A  third  expedi- 
tion in  1 6 1 6  resulted  in  his  capture  by  the  French. 
He  escaped,  but  was  unable  to  secure  means  to  prose- 
cute  his   adventurous   explorations.      Typical    of  his 


2  CAPTAIN   JOHN    SMITH. 

many  writings  is  the  first,  A  True  Relation  (1608), 
—  of  little  art  but  abounding  life  ;  clumsy,  formless, 
inartistic,  yet  interesting.  He  wrote  also  A  Map  of 
Virginia  (161 2),  A  Description  of  New  England 
(161 6),  New  England's  Trials  (1620),  The  Gen- 
eral History  of  Virginia,  New  England  and  the 
Summer  Isles  (1624),  and  a  few  less  significant 
works.  Modern  scholars  have  been  inclined  to 
distrust  him  as  an  authority,  especially  when  he 
describes  his  own  exploits  and  adventures,  but  there 
is  reason  to  believe  that  this  scepticism  has  been 
pushed  too  far.  The  best  edition  of  his  works  is 
that  of  Edward  Arber  (1884). 


POWHATAN'S  TREATMENT   OF   SMITH. 

[From  "A  True  Relation  of  Such  Occurrences 
and  Accidents  of  Note  as  hath  happened  in 
Virginia  etc."      London,    1608.] 

Arriving  at  Weramocomoco  their  Emperor 
proudly  lying  upon  a  bedstead  a  foot  high,  upon  ten 
or  twelve  mats  richly  hung  with  many  chains  of 
great  pearls  about  his  neck,  and  covered  with  a  great 
covering  of  Rahaughcums.  At  his  head  sat  a 
woman,  at  his  feet  another  ;  on  each  side  sitting 
upon  a  mat  upon  the  ground,  were  ranged  his  chief 
men  on  each  side  the  fire,  ten  in  a  rank  and  behind 
them  as  many  young  women,  each  a  great  chain 
of  white  beads  over  their  shoulders,  their  heads 
painted  in  red  ;  and  with  such  a  grave  and  majes- 


POWHATAN'S    TREATMENT.  3 

deal  countenance,  as  drave  me  into  admiration  to  see 
such  state  in  a  naked  salvage. 

He  kindly  welcomed  me  with  good  words,  and 
great  platters  of  sundry  victuals,  assuring  me  his 
friendship,  and  my  liberty  within  four  days.  He 
much  delighted  in  Opechan  Comough's  relation  of 
what  I  had  described  to  him,  and  oft  examined  me 
upon  the  same. 

He  asked  me  the  cause  of  our  coming. 

I  told  him  being  in  fight  with  the  Spaniards,  our 
enemy,  being  overpowered,  near  put  to  retreat,  and 
by  extreme  weather  put  to  this  shore,  where  landing 
at  Chesipiack,  the  people  shot  us,  but  at  Kequough- 
tan  they  kindly  used  us  ;  we  by  signs  demanded 
fresh  water,  they  described  us  up  the  river  was  all 
fresh  water  :  at  Paspahegh  also  they  kindly  used  us  : 
our  pinnace  being  leaky,  we  were  enforced  to  stay  to 
mend  her,  till  Captain  Newport,  my  father,  came 
to  conduct   us  away. 

He  demanded  why  we  went  further  with  our 
boat.  I  told  him,  in  that  I  would  have  occasion  to 
talk  of  the  back  sea,  that  on  the  other  side  the  main 
where  was  salt  water.  My  father  had  a  child  slain 
which  we  supposed  Monocan,  his  enemy  [had  done]  ; 
whose  death  we  intended  to  revenge. 

After  good  deliberation,  he  began  to  describe  me 
the  countries  beyond  the  falls,  with  many  of  the  rest  ; 
confirming  what  not  only  Opechancanoyes,  and  an 
Indian  which  had  been  prisoner  to  Pewhatan  had 
before  told  me  :  but  some  one  called  it  five  days, 
some  six,  some  eight,  where  the  said  water  dashed 
amongst  many  stones  and  rocks,  each  storm  ;  which 
caused  oft  times  the  head  of  the  river  to  be  brackish. 


4  CAPTAIN   JOHN    SMITH. 

Anchanachuck  he  described  to  be  the  people  that 
had  slain  my  brother  :  whose  death  he  would  re- 
venge. He  described  also  upon  the  same  sea,  a 
mighty  nation  called  Pocoughtronack,  a  fierce  nation 
that  did  eat  men,  and  warred  with  the  people  of 
Moyaoncer  and  Pataromerke,  nations  upon  the  top 
of  the  head  of  the  Bay,  under  his  territories  :  where 
the  year  before  they  had  slain  an  hundred.  He 
signified  their  crowns  were  shaven,  long  hair  in  the 
neck,  tied  on  a  knot,   swords  like  pollaxes. 

Beyond  them,  he  described  people  with  short 
coats,  and  sleeves  to  the  elbows,  that  passed  that 
way  in  ships  like  ours.  Many  kingdoms  he  de- 
scribed me,  to  the  head  of  the  bay,  which  seemed  to 
be  a  mighty  river  issuing  from  mighty  mountains  be- 
twixt the  two  seas  :  The  people  clothed  at  Ocama- 
howan,  he  also  confirmed.  And  the  southerly 
countries  also,  as  the  rest  that  reported  us  to  be  within 
a  day  and  a  half  of  Mangoge,  two  days  of  Chawwo- 
nock,  six  from  Roonock,  to  the  south  part  of  the 
back  sea.  He  described  a  country  called  Anone, 
where  they  have  abundance  of  brass,  and  houses 
walled  as  ours. 

I  requited  his  discourse  (seeing  what  pride  he 
had  in  his  great  and  spacious  dominions,  seeing  that 
all  he  knew  were  under  his  territories)  in  describing 
to  him  the  territories  of  Europe,  which  was  subject 
to  our  great  king  whose  subject  I  was,  the  innumer- 
able multitude  of  his  ships,  I  gave  him  to  understand 
the  noise  of  trumpets,  and  terrible  manner  of  fighting 
[which]  were  under  Captain  Newport  my  father  : 
whom  I  intituled  the  Meworames,  which  they  call 
the    king  of  all    the  waters.      At    his    greatness    he 


COLONIAL   MANAGEMENT.  5 

admired  :  and  not  a  little  feared.  He  desired  me  to 
forsake  Paspahegh,  and  to  live  with  him  upon  his 
river,  a  country  called  Capa  Howasicke.  He  prom- 
ised to  give  me  corn,  venison,  or  what  I  wanted  to 
feed  us  :  Hatchets  and  copper  we  should  make  him, 
and  none  should  disturb  us. 


REQUISITES    OF   COLONIAL    MANAGE- 
MENT. 

[From  "A  Description  of  New  England,"  etc. 
London,     161 6.] 

But  it  is  not  a  work  for  every  one,  to  manage 
such  an  affair  as  makes  a  discovery,  and  plants  a  col- 
ony. It  requires  all  the  best  parts  of  art,  judgment, 
courage,  honesty,  constancy,  diligence,  and  industry, 
to  do  but  near  well.  Some  are,  more  proper  for 
one  thing  than  another  ;  and  therein  are  to  be  em- 
ployed :  and  nothing  breeds  more  confusion  than 
misplacing  and  misemploying  men  in  their  undertak- 
ings. Columbus,  Cortez,  Pitzara,  Soto,  Magellanes, 
and  the  rest  served  more  than  aprenticeship  to 
learn  how  to  begin  their  most  memorable  attempts  in 
the  West  Indies  :  which  to  the  wonder  of  all  ages 
successfully  they  effected,  when  many  hundreds  of 
others,  far  above  them  in  the  world's  opinion,  being 
instructed  but  by  relation,  came  to  shame  and  con- 
fusion in  actions  of  small  moment,  who  doubtless  in 
other  matters,  were  both  wise,  discreet,  generous, 
and  courageous.  I  say  not  this  to  detract  anything 
from  their  imcomparable  merits,  —  but  to  answer  those 


6  CAPTAIN   JOHN   SMITH. 

questionless  questions  that  keep  us  back  from  imitat- 
ing the  worthiness  of  their  brave  spirits  that  advanced 
themselves  from  poor  soldiers,  to  great  captains, 
their  posterity  to  great  lords,  their  king  to  be  one  of 
the  greatest  potentates  on  earth,  and  the  fruits  of 
their  labors,  his  greatest  glory,  power,  and  renown. 


GLORIOUS  PAINS  vs.  INGLORIOUS  EASE. 

[From  the  Same.] 

Who  can  desire  more  content,  that  hath  small 
means;  or  but  only  his  merit  to  advance  his  fortune, 
than  to  tread,  and  plant  that  ground  he  hath  pur- 
chased by  the  hazard  of  his  life  ?  If  he  have  but  the 
taste  of  virtue,  and  magnanimity,  what  to  such  a 
mind  can  be  more  pleasant,  than  planting  and  build- 
ing a  foundation  for  his  posterity,  got  from  the 
rude  earth,  by  God's  blessing  and  his  own  industry, 
without  prejudice  to  any  ?  If  he  have  any  grain  of 
faith  or  zeal  in  Religion,  what  can  he  do  less  hurt- 
full  to  any  ;  or  more  agreeable  to  God,  than  to  seek 
to  convert  those  poor  savages  to  know  Christ,  and 
humanity,  whose  labors  with  discretion  will  triple 
requite  thy  charge  and  pains  ?  What  so  truly  suits 
with  honor  and  honesty,  as  the  discovering  things 
unknown  ?  erecting  towns,  peopling  countries, 
informing  the  ignorant,  reforming  things  unjust, 
teaching  virtue  ;  and  gain  to  our  native  mother- 
country  a  kingdom  to  attend  her  ;  find  employ- 
ment for  those  that  are  idle,  because  they  know  not 
what    to    do  :    so    far     from    wronging    any,   as    to 


GLORIOUS    PAINS.  7 

cause  posterity  to  remember  thee  ;  and  remembring 
thee,  ever  honor  that  remembrance  with  praise  ? 
Consider  :  What  were  the  beginnings  and  endings  of 
the  Monarchies  of  the  Chaldeans,  the  Syrians,  the 
Grecians,  and  Romans,  but  this  one  rule  ;  What 
was  it  they  would  not  do,  for  the  good  of  the  com- 
monwealth, or  their  Mother-city  ?  For  example  : 
Rome,  What  made  her  such  a  Monarchess,  but 
only  the  adventures  of  her  youth,  not  in  riots  at 
home  ;  but  in  dangers  abroad  ?  and  the  justice  and 
judgment  out  of  their  experience,  when  they  grew 
aged.  What  was  their  ruin  and  hurt,  but  this  ; 
The  excess  of  idleness,  the  fondness  of  parents,  the 
want  of  experience  in  magistrates,  the  admiration  of 
their  undeserved  honors,  the  contempt  of  true  merit, 
their  unjust  jealosies,  their  politic  incredulities,  their 
hypocritical  seeming  goodness,  and  their  deeds  of 
secret  lewdness  ?  finally,  in  fine,  growing  only  for- 
mal temporists,  all  that  their  predecessors  got  in 
many  years,  they  lost  in  few  days.  Those  by  their 
pains  and  virtues  became  lords  of  the  world  ; 
they  by  their  ease  and  vices  became  slaves  to  their 
servants.  This  is  the  difference  betwixt  the  use  of 
arms  in  the  field,  and  on  the  monuments  of  stones  ; 
the  golden  age  and  the  leaden  age,  prosperity  and 
misery,  justice  and  corruption,  substance  and  shad- 
ows, words  and  deeds,  experience  and  imagina- 
tion, making  commonwealths  and  marring  common- 
wealths, the  fruits  of  virtue  and  the  conclusions  of 
vice. 

Then,  who  would  live  at  home  idly  (or  think 
in  himself  any  worth  to  live)  only  to  eat,  drink, 
Hnd    sleep,    and    so    die  ?      Or    by    consuming    that 


8  CAPTAIN  JOHN    SMITH. 

carelessly,  his  friends  got  worthily  ?  Or  by  using 
that  miserably,  that  maintained  virtue  honestly  ?  Or, 
for  being  descended  nobly,  pine  with  the  vain  vaunt 
of  great  kindred,  in  penury  ?  Or  (to  maintain  a 
silly  show  of  bravery)  toil  out  thy  heart,  soul,  and 
time,  basely,  by  shifts,  tricks,  cards,  and  dice  ?  Or 
by  relating  news  of  others  actions,  shark  here  or 
there  for  a  dinner,  or  supper;  deceive  thy  friends, 
by  fair  promises,  and  dissimulation,  in  borrowing 
where  thou  never  intendest  to  pay  ;  offend  the 
laws,  surfeit  with  excess,  burden  thy  country,  abuse 
thyself,  despair  in  want,  and  then  cozen  thy  kin- 
dred, yea  even  thine  own  brother,  and  wish  thy 
parents'  death  (I  will  not  say  damnation)  to  have 
their  estates  ?  though  thou  seest  what  honors,  and 
rewards,  the  world  yet  hath  for  them  will  seek  them 
and  worthily  deserve  them. 

I  would  be  sorry  to  offend,  or  that  any  should 
mistake  my  honest  meaning  :  for  I  wish  good  to  all, 
hurt  to  none.  But  rich  men  for  the  most  part  are 
grown  to  that  dotage,  through  their  pride  in  their 
wealth,  as  though  there  were  no  accident  could  end 
it,  or  their  life. 

And  what  hellish  care  do  such  take  to  make  it 
their  own  misery,  and  their  country's  spoil,  espe- 
cially when  there  is  most  need  of  their  employment? 
drawing  by  all  manner  of  inventions,  from  the  Prince 
and  his  honest  subjects,  even  the  vital  spirits  of  their 
powers  and  estates  :  as  if  their  bags,  or  brags,  were 
so  powerful  a  defence,  the  malicious  could  not  assault 
them  :  when  they  are  the  only  bait,  to  cause  us  not 
to  be  only  assaulted  ;  but  betrayed  and  murdered  in 
our  own  security,  ere  we  well  perceive  it. 


COLONIAL   OPPORTUNITIES.  9 

COLONIAL    OPPORTUNITIES. 

[From  the  Same.] 

And  lest  any  should  think  the  toil  might  be  insup- 
portable, though  these  things  may  be  had  by  labor 
and  diligence,  I  assure  my  self  there  are  who 
delight  extremely  in  vain  pleasure,  that  take  much 
more  pains  in  England,  to  enjoy  it,  than  I  should 
do  here  to  gain  wealth  sufficient  :  and  yet  I  think 
they  should  not  have  half  such  sweet  content :  for, 
our  pleasure  here  is  still  gains  ;  in  England  charges 
and  loss.  Here  nature  and  liberty  affords  us  that 
freely,  which  in  England  we  want,  or  it  costeth  us 
dearly.  What  pleasure  can  be  more,  than  (being 
tired  with  any  occasion  a-shore  in  planting  vines, 
fruits,  or  herbs,  in  contriving  their  own  grounds,  to 
the  pleasure  of  their  own  minds,  their  fields,  gar- 
dens, orchards,  buildings,  ships,  and  other  works, 
&c. )  to  recreate  themselves  before  their  own  doors, 
in  their  own  boats  upon  the  sea,  where  man,  woman 
and  child,  with  a  small  hook  and  line,  by  angling, 
may  take  diverse  sorts  of  excellent  fish,  at  their  pleas- 
ures ?  And  is  it  not  pretty  sport,  to  pull  up  two 
pence,  six  pence,  and  twelve  pence,  as  fast  as  you 
can  hale  and  vear  a  line  ?  He  is  a  very  bad  fisher, 
cannot  kill  in  one  day  with  his  hook  and  line,  one, 
two,  or  three  hundred  cods  :  which  dressed  and 
dried,  if  they  be  sold  there  for  ten  shillings  the 
hundred,  though  in  England  they  will  give  more 
than  twenty  ;  may  not  both  the  servant,  the  master, 
and  merchant,  be  well   content  with   this  gain  ?      If 


10  CAPTAIN   JOHN    SMITH. 

a  man  work  bat  three  days  in  seven,  he  may  get 
more  then  he  can  spend,  unless  he  be  excessive. 
Now  that  carpenter,  mason,  gardiner,  tailor,  smith, 
sailer,  forgers,  or  what  other,  may  they  not;  make 
this  a  pretty  recreation  though  they  fish  but  an  hour 
in  a  day,  to  take  more  than  they  eat  in  a  week  : 
or  ?  if  they  will  not  eat  it,  because  there  is  so  much 
better  choice  ;  yet  sell  it,  or  change  it,  with  the  fish- 
ermen, or  merchants,  for  any  thing  they  want.  And 
what  sport  doth  yield  a  more  pleasing  content, 
and  less  hurt  or  charge  than  angling  with  a  hook, 
and  crossing  the  sweet  air  from  isle  to  isle,  over  the 
silent  streams  of  a  calm  sea  ?  Wherein  the  most 
curious  may  find  pleasure,  profit,  and  content. 

Thus,  though  all  men  be  not  fishers  :  yet  all  men 
whatsoever,  may  in  other  matters  do  as  well.  For 
necessity  doth  in  these  cases  so  rule  a  commonwealth, 
and  each  in  their  several  functions,  as  their  labors  in 
their  qualities  may  be  as  profitable,  because  there  is 
a  necessary  mutual  use  of  all. 

For  gentlemen,  what  exercise  should  more  delight 
them,  than  ranging  daily  those  unknown  parts,  using 
fowling  and  fishing,  for  hunting  and  hawking  ?  and 
yet  you  shall  see  the  wild  hawks  give  you  some 
pleasure,  in  seeing  them  stoop  (six  or  seven  after  one 
another)  an  hour  or  two  together  at  the  schools  offish 
in  the  fair  harbors,  as  those  ashore  at  a  fowl  :  and 
never  trouble  nor  torment  yourselves,  with  watching, 
mewing,  feeding,  and  attending  them  :  nor  kill  horse 
and  man  with  running  and  crying.  See  you  not  a 
hawk  ?  For  hunting  also  :  the  woods,  lakes,  and 
rivers  afFord  not  only  chase  sufficient,  for  any  that 
delights  in   that  kind  of  toil,  or  pleasure  :  but  such 


COLONIAL   OPPORTUNITIES.  II 

beasts  to  hunt,  that  besides  the  delicacy  of  their 
bodies  for  food,  their  skins  are  so  rich,  as  may  well 
recompense  thy  daily  labor,  with  a  captain's  pay. 

For  laborers,  if  those  that  sow  hemp,  rape,  turnips, 
parsnips,  carrots,  cabbage,  and  such  like  :  give  20, 
30,  40,  50,  .shillings  yearly  for  an  acre  of  ground, 
and  meat,  drink,  and  wages  to  use  it,  and  yet 
grow  rich  :  when  better  or  at  least  as  good  ground, 
may  be  had,  and  cost  nothing  but  labor  :  it  seems 
strange  to  me,  any  such  should  there  grow  poor. 

My  purpose  is  not  to  persuade  children  from  their 
parents  :  men  from  their  wives  :  nor  servants  from 
their  masters  :  only,  such  as  with  free  consent  may 
be  spared  :  but  that  each  parish,  or  village,  in  city  or 
country,  that  will  but  apparel  their  fatherless  children 
of  thirteen  or  fourteen  years  of  age,  or  young  mar- 
ried people,  that  have  small  wealth  to  live  on  :  here 
by  their  labor  may  live  exceeding  well  :  provided 
always  that  first  there  be  a  sufficient  power  to  com- 
mand them,  houses  to  receive  them,  means  to  defend 
them,  and  meet  provisions  for  them  :  for  any  place 
may  be  overlain  :  and  it  is  most  necessary  to  have  a 
fortress  (ere  this  grow  to  practice)  and  sufficient 
masters  (as,  carpenters,  masons,  fishers,  fowlers, 
gardeners,  husbandmen,  sawers,  smiths,  spinsters, 
tailors,  weavers,  and  such  like)  to  take  ten,  twelve, 
or  twenty,  or  as  there  is  occasion,  for  apprentice,. 
The  masters  by  this  may  quickly  grow  rich  :  these 
may  learn  their -trades  themselves,  to  do  the  like: 
to  a  general  and  an  incredible  benefit  for  king,  and 
country,  masters,  and  servant. 


12  CAPTAIN    JOHN    SMITH. 

THE  POCAHONTAS  INCIDENT  —  THE 
LATER  VERSION  OF  POWHATAN'S 
TREATMENT  OF   SMITH. 

[From  the  «' General  History  of  Virginia,"  etc. 
(1624),  Lib.  III.] 

Opjtchapam  the  King's  brother  invited  him  to  his 
house,  where,  with  as  many  platters  of  bread,  fowl, 
and  wild  beasts,  as  did  environ  him,  he  bid  him 
welcome  ;  but  not  any  of  them  would  eat  a  bit  with 
him,  but  put  up  all  the  remainder  in  baskets. 

At  his  returne  to  Opechancanough's  all  the  King's 
women  and  their  children,  flocked  about  him  for 
their  parts,  as  a  due  by  custom,  to  be  merry  with 
such  fragments. 

But  his    waking    mind    in   hideous  dreams  did   oft    see  wondrous 

shapes 
Of  bodies  strange  and  huge  in  growth,  and  of  stupendous  makes 

At  last  they  brought  him  to  Werowocomoco, 
where  was  Powhatan  their  Emperor.  Here  more 
then  two  hundred  of  those  grim  courtiers  stood  won- 
dering at  him,  as  he  had  been  a  monster  ;  till  Pow- 
hatan and  his  train  had  put  themselves  in  their  greatest 
braveries.  Before  a  fire  upon  a  seat  like  a  bedstead, 
he  sat  covered  with  a  great  robe,  made  of  raccoon 
skins,  and  all  the  tails  hanging  by.  On  either  hand 
did  sit  a  young  wench  of  16  or  18  years,  and 
along  on  each  side  the  house,  two  rows  of  men, 
and  behind  them  as  many  women,  with  all  their  heads 
and  shoulders  painted  red;  many  of  their  heads  be 


POCAHONTAS.  1 3 

decked  with  the  white  down  of  birds  ;  but  every 
one  with  something  :  and  a  great  chain  of  white 
beads  about  their  necks. 

At  his  entrance  before  the  King,  all  the  people 
gave  a  great  shout.  The  Queen  of  Appamatuck 
was  appointed  to  bring  him  water  to  wash  his  hands, 
and  another  brought  him  a  bunch  of  feathers,  instead 
of  a  towel  to  dry  them.  Having  feasted  him  after 
their  best  barbarous  manner  they  could,  a  long  con- 
sultation was  held,  but'  the  conclusion  was,  two  great 
stones  were  brought  before  Powhatan  :  then  as  many 
as  could  laid  hands  on  him,  dragged  him  to  them, 
and  thereon  laid  his  head,  and  being  ready  with  their 
clubs,  to  beat  out  his  brains,  Pocahontas  the  King's 
dearest  daughter,  when  no  entreaty  could  prevail, 
got  his  head  in  her  arms,  and  laid  her  own  upon 
his  to  save  his  from  death  :  whereat  the  Emperor 
was  contented  he  should  live  to  make  him  hatchets, 
and  her  bells,  beads,  and  copper  ;  for  they  thought 
him  as  well  of  all  occupations  as  themselves.  For 
the  King  himself  will  make  his  own  robes,  shoes, 
bows,  arrows,  pots  ;  plant,  hunt,  or  do  any  thing  so. 
well  as  the  rest. 

They  say  he  bore  a  pleasant  show, 
But  sure  his  heart  was  sad. 
For  who  can  pleasant  be,  and  rest, 
That  lives  in  fear  and  dread  : 
And  having  life  suspected,  doth 
It  still  suspected  lead. 

Two  days  after,  Powhatan  having  disguised  him- 
self in  the  most  fearfulest  manner  he  could,  caused 
Captain  Smith  to  be  brought  forth  to  a  great  house 
in  the  woods,  and  there  upon  a  mat  by  the  fire  to  be 


14  CAPTAIN   JOHN    SMITH. 

left  alone.  Not  long  after-  from  behind  a  mat  that 
divided  the  house,  was  made  the  most  dolefulest  noise 
he  ever  heard  :  then  Powhatan  more  like  a  devil  than 
a  man,  with  some  two  hundred  more  as  black  as 
himself,  came  unto  him  and  told  him  now  they  were 
friends,  and  presently  he  should  go  to  Jamestown,  to 
send  him  two  great  guns,  and  a  grindstone,  for  which 
he  would  give  him  the  County  of  Capahowosick, 
and  for  ever  esteem  him  as  his  son  Nantaquoud. 

So  to  Jamestown  with  1 2  guides  Powhatan  sent 
him.  That  night  they  quartered  in  the  woods,  he 
still  expecting  (as  he  had  done  all  this  long  time  of 
his  imprisonment)  every  hour  to  be  put  to  one  death 
or  other  for  all  their  feasting.  But  almighty  God 
by  his  divin£  providence,  had  mollified  the  hearts  of 
those  stern  barbarians  with  compassion.  The  next 
morning  betimes  they  came  to  the  fort,  where  Smith 
having  used  the  savages  with  what  kindness  he  could, 
he  showed  Rawhunt,  Powhatan's  trusty  servant,  two 
demi-culverins  and  a  millstone  to  carry  Powhatan  : 
they  found  them  somewhat  too  heavy  ;  but  when 
they  did  see  him  discharge  them,  being  loaded  with 
stones,  among  the  boughs  of  a  great  tree  loaded  with 
icicles,  the  ice  and  branches  came  so  tumbling  down, 
that  the  poor  savages  ran  away  half  dead  with  fear. 
But  at  last  we  regained  some  confidence  with  them, 
and  gave  them  such  toys  :  and  sent  to  Powhatan 
his  women,  and  children  such  presents,  as  gave  them 
in  general  full  content. 


CAPTURE   OF   POCAHONTAS.  1 5 

THE    CAPTURE    OF    POCAHONTAS. 
[From  the  Same,    Lib.  IV.] 

But  to  conclude  our  peace,  thus  it  happened. 
Captain  Argall  having  entered  into  a  great  acquaint- 
ance with  Japazaws,  an  old  friend  of  Captain  Smith's, 
and  so  to  all  our  nation,  ever  since  he  discovered 
the  Country  :  hard  by  him  there  was  Pocahontas, 
whom  Captain  Smith's  Relations  intituleth  the 
Numparell  of  Virginia,  and  though  she  had  been 
many  times  a  preserver  of  him  and  the  whole  colony, 
yet  till  this  accident  she  was  never  seen  at  James- 
town   since  his   departure. 

Being  at  Patawomeke,  as  it  seems,  thinking  her 
self  unknown,  was  easily  by  her  friend  Japazaws 
persuaded  to  go  abroad  with  him  and  his  wife  to 
see  the  ship,  for  Captaine  Argall  had  promised  him 
a  copper  kettle  to  bring  her  but  to  him,  promising 
no  way  to  hurt  her,  but  keep  her  till  they  could 
conclude  a  peace  with  her  father.  The  savage  for 
this  copper  kettle  would  have  done  any  thing,  it 
seemed  by  the  Relation. 

For  though  she  had  seen  and  been  in  many  ships, 
yet  he  caused  his  wife  to  fain  how  desirous  she  was 
to  see  one,  and  that  he  offered  to  beat  her  for  her 
importunity,  till  she  wept.  But  at  last  he  told  her, 
if  Pocahontas  would  go  with  her,  he  was  content  : 
and  thus  they  betrayed  the  poor  innocent  Pocahontas 
aboard,  where  they  were  all  kindly  feasted  in  the 
cabin.  Japazaws  treading  oft  on  the  Captain's  foot, 
*•  remember  he    had    done    his    part,   the    Captain 


1 6  CAPTAIN  JOHN    SMITH. 

when  he  saw  his  time,  persuaded  Pocahontas  to  the 
gun-room,  faining  to  have  some  conference  with 
Japazaws,  which  was  only  that  she  should  not  per- 
ceive he  was  any  way  guilty  of  her  captivity  :  so 
sending  for  her  again,  he  told  her  before  her  friends, 
she  must  go  with  him,  and  compound  peace  betwixt 
her  country  and  us,  before  she  ever  should  see  Pow- 
hatan, whereat  the  old  Jew  and  his  wife  began  to 
howl  and  cry  as  fast  as  Pocahontas,  that  upon  the 
Captain's  fair  persuasions,  by  degrees  pacifying  her 
self,  and  Japazaws  and  his  wife,  with  the  kettle 
and  other  toys,  went  merrily  on  shore,  and  she  to 
Jamestown. 

A  messenger  forthwith  was  sent  to  her  father,  that 
his  daughter  Pocahontas  he  loved  so  dearly,  he  must 
ransom  with  our  men,  swords,  pieces,  tools,  &c, 
he  treacherously  had  stolen. 

This  unwelcome  news  much  troubled  Powhatan, 
because  he  loved  both  his  daughter  and  our  com- 
modities well,  yet  it  was  three  months  after  ere  he 
returned  us  any  answer  :  then  by  the  persuasion  of 
the  Council,  he  returned  seven  of  our  men,  with 
each  of  them  an  unserviceable  musket,  and  sent  us 
word,  that  when  we  would  deliver  his  daughter, 
he  would  make  us  satisfaction  for  all  injuries  done 
us,  and  give  us  five  hundred  bushels  of  corn,  and 
forever  be  friends  with  us. 

That  he  sent,  we  received  in  part  of  payment, 
and  returned  him  this  answer  :  —  That  his  daughter 
should  be  well  used,  but  we  could  not  believe  the 
rest  of  our  arms  were  either  lost  or  stolen  from 
him,  and  therefore  till  he  sent  them,  we  would  keep 
his  daughter. 


CAPTURE   OF   POCAHONTAS.  1 7 

This  answer,  it  seemed,  much  displeased  him,  for 
we  heard  no  more  from  him  a  long  time  after,  when 
with  Captain  ArgalPs  ship  and  some  other  vessels 
belonging  to  the  Colony,  Sir  Thomas  Dale,  with  a 
hundred  and  fifty  men  well  appointed,  went  up  into 
his  own  River,  to  his  chief  habitation,  with  his 
daughter. 

With  many  scornful  bravados  they  affronted  us, 
proudly  demanding  why  we  came  thither  ;  our  reply 
was,  we  had  brought  his  daughter,  and  to  receive  the 
ransom  for  her  that  was  promised,  or  to  have  it  perforce. 

They  nothing  dismayed  thereat,  told  us,  We  were 
welcome  if  we  came  to  fight,  for  they  were  provided 
for  us,  but  advised  us,  if  we  loved  our  lives  to 
retire  ;  else  they  would  use  us  as  they  had  done  Cap- 
tain RatclifFe.  We  told  them,  we  would  pres- 
ently have  a  better  answer  ;  but  we  were  no  sooner 
within  shot  of  the  shore  than  they  let  fly  their 
Arrows  among  us  in  the  ship. 

Being  thus  justly  provoked,  we  presently  manned 
our  boats,  went  on  shore,  burned  all  their  houses, 
and  spoiled  all  they  had  we  could  find  ;  and  so  the 
next  day  proceeded  higher  up  the  river,  where  they 
demanded  why  we  burnt  their  houses,  and  we, 
why  they  shot  at  us  :  They  replied  it  was  some 
straggling  savage,  with  many  other  excuses  ;  they 
intended  no  hurt,  but  were  our  friends.  We  told 
them,  we  came  not  to  hurt  them,  but  visit  them  as 
friends  also. 

Upon  this  we  concluded  a  peace,  and  forthwith 
they  dispatched  messengers  to  Powhatan,  whose 
answer,  they  told  us,  wee  must  expect  four  and 
twenty  hours  ere  the  messengers  could  return  :  .  .  . 


1 8  CAPTAIN   JOHN    SMITH. 

Then  they  told  us,  our  men  were  run  away  for 
fear  we  would  hang  them,  yet  Powhatan's  men  were 
run  after  them  :  as  for  our  swords  and  pieces,  they 
should  be  brought  us  the  next  day,  which  was  only 
but  to  delay  time  :  for  the  next  day  they  came 
not. 

Then  we  went  higher,  to  a  house  of  Powhatan's, 
called  Machot,  where  we  saw  about  four  hundred 
men  well  appointed  :  here  they  dared  us  to  come  on 
shore  which  we  did  :  no  show  of  fear  they  made  at 
all,  nor  offered  to  resist  our  landing,  but  walking 
boldly  up  and  down  amongst  us,  demanded  to  con- 
fer with  our  captain,  of  his  coming  in  that  manner, 
and  to  have  truce  till  they  could  but  once  more  send 
to  their  king  to  know  his  pleasure,  which  if  it  were 
not  agreeable  to  their  expectations,  then  they  would 
fight  with  us,  and  defend  their  own  as  they  could. 
Which  was  but  only  to  defer  the  time,  to  carry 
away  their  provisions  :  yet  we  promised  them  truce 
till  the  next  day  at  noon,  and  then  if  they  would 
fight  with  us,  they  should  know  when  we  would 
begin  by  our  drums  and  trumpets. 

Upon  this  promise  two  of  Powhatan's  sons  came 
unto  us  to  see  their  sister,  at  whose  sight,  seeing  her 
well,  though  they  heard  to  the  contrary,  they  much 
rejoiced,  promising  they  would  persuade  her  father 
to  redeem  her,  and  forever  be  friends  with  us. 
And  upon  this  the  two  brethren  went  aboard  with 
us,  and  we  sent  Master  John  Rolfe  and  Master 
Sparkes  to  Powhatan,  to  acquaint  him  with  the 
business;  kindly  they  were  entertained,  but  not 
admitted  the  presence  of  Powhatan,  but  they  spoke 
with    Opechancanough,   his  brother  and   successor  ; 


FATE    OF    POCAHONTAS.  19 

he  promised  to  do  the  best  he  could  to  Powhatan, 
all  might  be  well. 

So  it  being  April  and  time  to  prepare  our  ground 
and  set  our  corn,  we  returned  to  Jamestown,  promis- 
ing the  forbearance  of  their  performing  their  promise, 
till  the  next  harvest. 

Long  before  this,  Master  John  Rolfe,  an  honest 
gentleman,  and  of  good  behaviour,  had  been  in 
love  with  Pocahontas,  and  she  with  him,  which 
thing  at  that  instant  I  made  known  to  Sir  Thomas 
Dale  by  a  letter  from  him,  wherein  he  entreated  his 
advice,  and  she  acquainted  her  brother  with  it, 
which  resolution  Sir  Thomas  Dale  well  approved. 
The  bruit  of  this  manage  came  soon  to  the  knowl- 
edge of  Powhatan,  a  thing  acceptable  to  him,  as 
appeared  by  his  sudden  consent,  for  within  ten  days 
he  sent  Opachisco,  an  old  uncle  of  hers,  and  two 
of  his  sons,  to  see  the  manner  of  the  manage,  and 
to  do  in  that  behalf  what  they  requested,  for  the 
confirmation  thereof,  as  his  deputy  :  which  was  ac- 
cordingly done  about  the  first  of  April.  And  ever 
since  we  have  had  friendly  trade  and  commerce,  as 
well  with  Powhatan  himself,  as  all  his  subjects. 


THE    FATE    OF    POCAHONTAS. 

[From  the  Same,   Lib.   IV.] 

During  this  time  the  Lady  Rebecca,  alias  Poca- 
hontas, daughter  to  Powhatan,  by  the  diligent  care 
of  Master  John  Rolfe  her  husband  and  his  friends,  was 


20  CAPTAIN   JOHN    SMITH. 

taught  to  speak  such  English  as  might  well  be  un- 
derstood, well  instructed  in  Christianity,  and  was 
become  very  formal  and  civil  after  our  English  man- 
ner ;  she  had  also  by  him  a  child  which  she  loved 
most  dearly  and  the  Treasurer  and  Company  took 
order  both  for  the  maintenance  of  her  and  it,  besides 
there  were  divers  persons  of  great  rank  and  quality 
had  been  very  kind  to  her  ;  and  before  she  arrived 
at  London,  Captain  Smith  to  deserve  her  former 
courtesies,  made  her  qualities  known  to  the  Queen's 
most  excellent  Majesty  and  her  Court,  and  writ  a 
little  book  to  this  effect  to  the  Queen.  .  .  . 

Being  about  this  time  preparing  to  set  sail  for  New 
England,  I  could  not  stay  to  do  her  that  service  I 
desired,  and  she  well  deserved  ;  but  hearing  she  was 
at  Bradford  with  divers  of  my  friends,  I  went  to  see 
her,  after  a  modest  salutation,  without  any  word, 
she  turned  about,  obscured  her  face,  as  not  seeming 
well  content  ;  and  in  that  humor  her  husband,  with 
diverse  others,  we  all  left  her  two  or  three  hours,  re- 
penting myself  to  have  writ  she  could  speak  English, 
but  not  long  after  she  began  to  talk  and  remembered 
me  well  what  courtesies  she  had  done:   saying, 

You  did  promise  Powhatan  what  was  yours  should 
be  his,  and  he  the  like  to  you  :  you  called  him  father 
being  in  this  land  a  stranger,  and  by  the  same  reason 
so  must  I  do  you  ;  which  though  I  would  have  ex- 
cused, I  durst  not  allow  of  that  title,  because  she  was 
a  king's  daughter  with  a  well  set  countenance  she 
said, 

Were  you  not  afraid  to  come  into  my  father' s  coun- 
try, and  caused  fear  in  him  and  all  his  people  (but 
me)   and  fear  you  here  I  should  call  you  father  :    I 


FATE   OF    POCAHONTAS.  21 

tell  you  then  I  will,  and  you  shall  call  me  child,  and 
so  I  will  be  for  ever  and  ever  your  countryman. 
They  did  tell  us  always  you  were  dead,  and  I  knew 
no  other  till  I  came  to  Plymouth  :  yet  Powhatan  did 
command  Uttamatomakkin  to  seek  you,  and  know  the 
truth,  because  your  countrymen  will  lie  much. 

This  savage,  one  of  Powhatan's  council,  being 
amongst  them  held  an  understanding  fellow  ;  the  king 
purposely  sent  him,  as  they  say,  to  number  the  peo- 
ple here,  and  inform  him  well  what  we  were  and  our 
state.  Arriving  at  Plymouth,  according  to  his  direc- 
tions, he  got  a  long  stick,  whereon  by  notches  he  did 
think  to  have  kept  the  number  of  all  the  men  he 
could  see,  but  he  was  quickly  weary  of  that  task. 

Coming  to  London,  where  by  chance  I  met  him, 
having  renewed  our  acquaintance,  where  many  were 
desirous  to  hear  and  see  his  behavior,  he  told  me 

Powhatan  did  bid  him  to  find  me  out,  to  show  him 
our  God,  the  King,  Queen,  and  Prince,  I  so  much 
had  told  them  of. 

Concerning  God,  I  told  him  the  best  I  could,  the 
King  I  heard  he  had  seen,  and  the  rest  he  should  see 
when  he  would  :  he  denied  ever  to  have  seen  the 
King,  till  by  circumstances  he  was  satisfied  he  had  : 
then  he  replied  very  sadly, 

You  gave  Powhatan  a  white  dog,  which  Powhatan 
fed  as  himself:  but  your  King  gave  me  nothing,  and 
I  am  better  than  your  white  dog. 

The  small  time  I  stayed  in  London,  divers  courtiers 
and  others,  my  acquaintances,  hath  gone  with  me  to 
see  her,  that  generally  concluded,  they  did  think  God 
had  a  great  hand  in  her  conversion,  and  they  have 
seen  many  English  ladies  worse  favored,  proportioned, 


22  CAPTAIN   JOHN    SMITH. 

and  behaviored  ;  and  as  since  I  have  heard,  it  pleased 
both  the  King  and  Queen's  majesty  honorably  to 
esteem  her,  accompanied  with  that  honorable  lady 
the  Lady  De  la  Ware,  and  that  honorable  lord  her 
husband,  and  divers  other  persons  of  good  qualities, 
both  publicly  at  the  masks  and  otherwise,  to  her  great 
satisfaction  and  content,  which  doubtless  she  would 
have  deserved,  had  she  lived  to  arrive  in  Virginia. 


COLONEL    NORWOOD. 

Of  the  author  of  "  A  Voyage  to  Virginia  "  very 
little  is  known  save  that,  as  his  narrative  tells  us,  he 
was  a  kinsman  to  that  picturesque  Governor  of  Colo- 
nial Virginia,  Sir  William  Berkeley.  His  voyage 
was  made  in  1649,  and  the  adventures  that  he  de- 
scribes were  doubtless  common  to  many  of  his  fellow 
gentlemen  adventurers.  The  work  is  peculiarly  inter- 
esting to  us  for  its  style.  The  narratives  of  his  pred- 
ecessors had  their  intrinsic  interest,  but  they  told 
their  stories  in  cumbrous  phraseology.  Here  the 
narrative  is  relatively  straightforward  and  clear,  though 
it  is  evident  that  Cowley  and  Dryden  had  still  their 
task  before  them  to  make  English  prose  a  worthy 
means  of  artistic  literary  expression.  The  Colonel 
has  considerable  power  of  conveying  the  thrill  of 
adventure.  There  is  a  pathos,  too,  in  his  story  of 
the  kindness  that  he  met  with  from  the  poor  Indian 
fisherman,  and  perhaps  there  is  a  touch  of  humor  in 
that  story  (not  given  here)  of  the  Portuguese  lady 
who  blushed  with  happiness  at  the  rough  ship's  com- 
pany's praise  of  her  little  son,  whose  features,  full  of 
sweetness,  reminded  them,  they  said,  of  their  exiled 
king,  Charles  II.  For  a  few  other  facts  about  Henry 
Norwood  see  Neill's  Virginia  Carolorum. 

23 


24  COLONEL   NORWOOD. 


INDIAN   HOSPITALITY. 

[From   "A  Voyage  to  Virginia."  —  Printed 
in  Force's  Tracts.     Vol.  III.] 

Our  kind  entertainment  in  the  house  of  this  poor 
fisherman,  had  so  many  circumstances  of  hearty 
compassion  and  tenderness  in  every  part  of  it,  that 
as  it  ought  to  be  a  perpetual  motive  to  engage 
all  of  us  who  enjoyed  the  benefit  of  it,  to  a  daily 
acknowledgement  of  the  Almighty's  goodness  for 
conducting  us  in  this  manner  by  his  immediate  hand, 
out  of  our  afflictions,  so  may  it  ever  be  looked  upon 
as  a  just  reproach  to  Christians,  who,  on  all  our 
sea-coasts,  are  so  far  from  affording  succour  to  those 
who,  by  shipwreck  and  misfortunes  of  the  sea,  do 
fall  into  their  power,  that  they  treat  with  all  inhuman 
savage  barbarity,  those  unhappy  souls  whom  God 
hath  thus  afflicted,  seizing  on  their  goods  as  their 
proper  perquisites,  which  the  waves  of  the  sea  (by 
divine  providence)  would  cast  upon  the  shore  for  the 
true  proprietors  ;  and  many  times  dispatching  them 
out  of  the  world  to  silence  complaints,  and  to  prevent 
all  after-reckonings.  And  the  better  to  intitle  them- 
selves to  what  they  get  in  this  way  of  rapine,  they 
wickedly  call  such  devilish  acquests  by  the  sacred 
name  of  God's  good,  prophaning  and  blaspheming 
at  the  same  time  that  holy  name,  as  they  violate  all 
the  laws  of  hospitality  and  human  society.  Whereas, 
on  the  contrary,  our  charitable  host,  influenced  only 
by  natural  law,  without  the  least  shew  of  coveting 
any   thing  we    had,    or   prospect    of  requital  in    the 


INDIAN    HOSPITALITY.  25 

future,  did  not  only  treat  in  this  manner  our  persons, 
but  did  also,  with  as  much  honesty,  secure  for  us 
our  small  stores  of  guns,  powder,  &c,  as  if  he  had 
read  and  understood  the  duty  of  the  gospel,  or  had 
given  his  only  child  as  a  hostage  to  secure  his  dealing 
justly  with  us ;  so  that  I  can  never  sufficiently 
applaud  the  humanity  of  this  Indian,  nor  express  the 
high  contentment  that  I  enjoyed  in  this  poor  man's 
cottage,  which  was  made  of  nothing  but  mat  and 
reeds,  and  bark  of  trees  fixed  to  poles.  It  had  a 
loveliness  and  symmetry  in  the  air  of  it,  so  pleasing 
to  the  eye,  and  refreshing  to  the  mind,  that  neither 
the  splendor  of  the  Escurial  nor  the  glorious  appear- 
ance of  Versailles  were  able  to  stand  in  competition 
with  it.  We  had  a  boiled  swan  for  supper,  which 
gave  plentiful  repasts  to  all  our  upper  mess. 

Our  bodies  thus  refreshed  with  meat  and  sleep, 
comforted  with  fires,  and  secured  from  all  the  changes 
and  inclemencies  of  that  sharp  piercing  cold  season, 
we  thought  the  morning  (tho'  clad  in  sunshine)  did 
come  too  fast  upon  us.  Breakfast  was  liberally  pro- 
vided and  set  before  us,  our  arms  faithfully  delivered 
up  to  my  order  for  carriage  ;  and  thus  in  readiness 
to  set  forward,  we  put  ourselves  in  a  posture  to  pro- 
ceed to  the  place  where  the  king  resided.  The 
woman  left  behind  at  the  island,  had  been  well 
looked  to,  and  was  now  brought  off  to  the  care  of 
her  comrade  that  came  with  us  ;  neither  of  them  in 
a  condition  to  take  a  journey,  but  they  were  care- 
fully attended  and  nourished  in  this  poor  man's  house, 
till  such  time  as  boats  came  to  fetch  them  to  Virginia, 
where  they  did  soon  arrive  in  perfect  health,  and 
lived  (one  or  both  of  them)  to  be  well  married,  and 


1,6  COLONEL    NORWOOD. 

to  bear  children,  and  to  subsist  in  as  plentiful  a  con- 
dition as  they  could  wish. 

In  beginning  our  journey  thro'  the  woods,  we 
had  not  advanced  half  a  mile  till  we  heard  a  great 
noise  of  men's  voices,  directed  to  meet  and  stop  our 
further  passage.  These  were  several  Indians  sent 
by  the  king  to  order  us  back  to  our  quarters.  Major 
Stephens  (not  cured  of  his  jealous  humour  by  the 
experience  of  what  he  felt  the  night  before)  took  this 
alarm  in  a  very  bad  sense,  and  as  much  different 
from  the  rest  of  the  company  as  in  his  former  fit. 
He  was  again  deluded  with  a  strong  fancy,  that  these 
violent  motions  in  the  Indians  who  approached  us, 
were  the  effect  of  some  sudden  change  in  their  coun- 
sels to  our  detriment,  and  that  nothing  less  than  our 
perdition  could  be  the  consequence  thereof,  which 
he  feared  would  immediately  be  put  in  practice  by 
the  clamorous  men  that  made  such  haste  to  meet  us, 
and  (as  he  would  apprehend)  to  kill  and  destroy  us. 

This  passion  of  Major  Stephens,  cast  in  the  same 
mould  with  that  other  he  discovered  in  the  island, 
had  not  (as  we  all  thought  and  told  him)  whereon 
to  raise  the  least  foundation  of  terror  to  affright  a 
child  ;  for  besides  the  earnest  we  had  received  of 
their  good  intentions  the  night  before,  these  men  who 
came  so  fast  upon  us,  were  all  unarmed  ;  nor  was  it 
likely,  that  king  would  now  possibly  imbrew  his 
hands  in  our  blood,  and  provoke  he  knew  not  how 
powerful  a  nation  to  destroy  him,  after  such  kind 
caresses,  and  voluntary  expressions  of  a  temper  very 
contrary  to  such  cruelty.  In  fine,  we  saw  no  cause 
in  all  the  carriage  of  the  Indians  on  which  I  could 
ground   any  fear,    and    therefore  I  longed  with    all 


INDIAN    HOSPITALITY.  2$ 

impatience  to  see  this  king,  and  to  enjoy  the  plenty 
of  his  table,  as  we  quickly  did. 

When  these  Indians  came  up  to  us,  this  doubt  was 
soon  cleared.  The  good-natured  king  being  in- 
formed of  our  bodily  weakness,  and  inability  to  walk 
thro'  the  woods  to  his  house  on  foot  (which  might 
be  about  four  miles  distant  from  our  setting  out)  had 
a  real  tenderness  for  us,  and  sent  canoes  to  carry  us 
to  the  place  nearest  his  house,  by  the  favour  of  another 
branch  of  the  same  creek  ;  and  to  the  end  we  might 
take  no  vain  steps  (as  we  were  going  to  do)  and 
exhaust  our  strength  to  no  purpose,  these  Indians 
made  this  noise  to  stop  us. 

We  entered  the  canoes  that  were  manned,  and  lay 
ready  to  receive  us.  We  had  a  pleasant  passage  in 
the  shallow  water,  eat  oysters  all  the  way  :  for  altho' 
the  breakfast  we  had  newly  made,  might  well  excuse 
a  longer  abstinence  than  we  were  like  to  be  put  to, 
our  arrear  to  our  stomachs  was  so  great,  that  all  we 
swallowed  was  soon  concocted,  and  our  appetite  still 
fresh  and  craving  more. 

Having  passed  this  new  course  for  some  three  Eng- 
lish miles  in  another  branch  of  the  creek,  our  landing 
place  was  contrived  to  be  near  the  house  of  the  queen 
then  in  waiting.  She  was  a  very  plain  lady  to  see 
to,  not  young,  nor  yet  ill-favoured.  Her  complexion 
was  of  a  sad  white  :  but  the  measures  of  beauty  in 
those  parts  where  they  are  exposed  to  the  scorching 
sun  from  their  infancy,  are  not  taken  from  red  and 
white,  but  from  colours  that  will  better  lie  upon  their 
tawny  skins,  as  hereafter  will  be  seen. 

The  beauty  of  this  queen's  mind  (which  is  more 
permanent  than  that   of  color)    was  conspicuous  in 


28  COLONEL    NORWOOD. 

her  charity  and  generosity  to  us  poor  starved  weather- 
beaten  creatures,  who  were  the  object  of  it.  A  mat 
was  spread  without  the  house,  upon  the  ground,  fur- 
nished with  pone,  hominy,  oysters,  and  other  things. 
The  queen  made  us  sit  down  and  eat,  with  gestures 
that  shewed  more  of  courtesy  than  majesty,  but  did 
speak  as  hearty  welcome  as  could  in  silence  be  ex- 
pected :  and  these  were  the  graces  that,  in  our  opin- 
ion, transcended  all  other  beauties  in  the  world,  and 
did  abundantly  supply  all  defects  of  outward  appear- 
ance in  the  person  and  garb  of  the  queen.  The 
southerly  wind  made  the  season  tolerable  ;  but  that 
lasted  but  little,  the  north-west  gale  coming  violently 
on  us  again. 

When  this  collation  of  the  queen  was  at  an  end, 
we  took  leave  of  her  majesty  with  all  the  shews  of 
gratitude  that  silence  knew  how  to  utter.  We  were 
now  within  half  an  hour's  walk  of  the  king's  man- 
sion, which  we  soon  discovered  by  the  smoke,  and 
saw  it  was  made  of  the  same  stuff  with  the  other 
houses  from  which  we  had  newly  parted,  namely,  of 
mat  and  reed.  Locust  posts  sunk  in  the  ground  at 
corners  and  partitions,  was  the  strength  of  the  whole 
fabric.  The  roof  was  tied  fast  to  the  body  with  a 
sort  of  strong  rushes  that  grow  there,  which  supplied 
the  place  of  nails  and  pins,  mortises  and  tenants. 

The  breadth  of  this  palace  was  about  eighteen  or 
twenty  foot,  the  length  about  twenty  yards.  The 
only  furniture  was  several  platforms  for  lodging, 
each  about  two  yards  long  and  more,  placed  on  both 
sides  of  the  house,  distant  from  each  other  about  five 
foot ;  the  space  in  the  middle  was  the  chimney,  which 
had  a  hole  in  the  roof  over  it,  to  receive  as  much  of 


INDIAN    HOSPITALITY.  29 

the  smoke  as  would  naturally  repair  to  it ;  the  rest  we 
shared  amongst  us,  which  was  the  greatest  part  ;  and 
the  sitters  divided  to  each  side,  as  our  soldiers  do  in 
their  corps  de  guarde. 

Fourteen  great  fires,  thus  situated,  were  burning  all 
at  once.  The  king's  apartment  had  a  distinction 
from  the  rest  ;  it  was  twice  as  long,  and  the  bank  he 
sat  on  was  adorned  with  deer  skins  finely  dressed, 
and  the  best  furs  of  otter  and  beaver  that  the  country 
did  produce. 

The  fire  assigned  to  us  was  suitable  to  our  number, 
to  which  we  were  conducted,  without  intermixture 
of  any  Indian  but  such  as  came  to  do  us  offices  of 
friendship.  There  we  were  permitted  to  take  our 
rest  until  the  king  pleased  to  enter  into  communica- 
tion with  us.  Previous  to  which  he  sent  his  daugh- 
ter, a  well-favored  young  girl  of  about  ten  or  twelve 
years  old,  with  a  great  wooden  bowl  full  of  hominy 
(which  is  the  corn  of  that  country,  beat  and  boiled 
to  mash).  She  did  in  a  most  obliging  manner  give 
me  the  first  taste  of  it,  which  I  would  have  handed 
to  my  next  neighbor  after  I  had  eaten,  but  the  young 
princess  interposed  her  hand,  and  taking  the  bowl  out 
of  mine,  delivered  it  to  the  same  party  I  aimed  to 
give  it,  and  so  to  all  the  rest  in  order.  Instead  of 
a  spoon  there  was  a  well-shaped  muscle-shell  that 
accompanied  the  bowl. 

The  linen  of  that  country  grows  ready  made  on 
the  branches  of  oak  trees  (or  pine)  ;  the  English  call 
it  moss.  It  is  like  the  threads  of  unwhited  cotton- 
yarn  ravelled,  and  hangs  in  parcels  on  the  lower 
boughs,  divine  providence  having  so  ordered  it  for 
the  conveniency  and  sustenance  of  the  deer,  which  is 


30  COLONEL    NORWOOD. 

all  the  food  they  can  get  in  times  of  snow.  It  is  very 
soft,  sweet  and  cleanly,  and  fit  for  the  purpose  of 
wiping  clean  the  hands,  and  doing  the  duty  of  nap- 
kins. 

About  three  hours  after  this  meal  was  ended,  the 
king  sent  to  have  me  come  to  him.  He  called  me 
Ny  a  Mutt  which  is  to  say,  My  brother,  and  com- 
pelled me  to  sit  down  on  the  same  bank  with  him- 
self, which  I  had  reason  to  look  upon  as  a  mighty 
favor.  After  I  had  sat  there  about  half  an  hour, 
and  taken  notice  of  many  earnest  discourses  and 
repartees  betwixt  the  king  and  •  his  croteme?i 
(so  the  Indians  call  the  king's  council)  I  could 
plainly  discover,  that  the  debate  they  held  was  con- 
cerning our  adventure  and  coming  there.  To  make 
it  more  clear,  the  king  addressed  himself  to  me  with 
many  gestures  of  his  body,  his  arms  displayed  in 
various  postures,  to  explain  what  he  had  in  his  mind 
to  utter  for  my  better  understanding.  By  all  which 
motions  I  was  not  edified  in  the  least,  nor  could 
imagine  what  return  to  make  by  voice  or  sign,  to 
satisfy  the  king's  demands  in  any  thing  that  related 
to  the  present  straights  of  our  condition.  In  fine,  I 
admired  their  patient  sufferance  of  my  dulness  to  com- 
prehend what  they  meant,  and  shewed  myself  to  be 
troubled  at  it  ;  which  being  perceived  by  the  king,  he 
turned  all  into  mirth  and  jollity,  and  never  left  till 
he  made  me  laugh  with  him,  tho'  I  knew  nor  whv. 

I  took  that  occasion  to  present  the  king  with  n 
sword  and  long  shoulder-belt,  which  he  receive! 
very  kindly  ;  and  to  witness  his  gracious  accept- 
ance, he  threw  off  his  Mach  coat  (or  upper  cover- 
ing of  skin),  stood   upright  on  his  bank,  and,  with 


INDIAN    HOSPITALITY.  31 

my  aid,  did  accoutre  his  naked  body  with  his  new 
harness,  which  had  no  other  apparel  to  adorn  it, 
besides  a  few  skins  about  his  loins  to  cover  his 
nakedness.  In  this  dress  he  seemed  to  be  much 
delighted  ;  but  to  me  he  appeared  a  figure  of  such 
extraordinary  shape,  with  sword  and  belt  to  set  it 
off,  that  he  needed  now  no  other  art  to  stir  me  up 
to  laughter  and  mirth,  than  the  sight  of  his  own 
proper  person. 

Having  made  this  short  acquaintance  with  the 
king,  I  took  leave,  and  returned  to  my  comrades. 
In  passing  the  spaces  betwixt  fire  and  fire,  one  space 
amongst  the  rest  was  blinded  with  a  traverse  of  mat  ; 
and  by  the  noise  I  heard  from  thence,  like  the  beat- 
ing of  hemp,  I  took  it  to  be  some  kind  of  elabora- 
tory.  To  satisfy  a  curiosity  I  had  to  be  more 
particularly  informed,  I  edged  close  to  the  mat  ;  and, 
by  standing  on  tiptoe  for  a  full  discovery,  I  saw  a 
sight  that  gave  me  no  small  trouble.  The  same 
specifical  queen  (whose  courtesy  for  our  kind  usage 
the  other  day,  can  never  be  enough  applauded)  was 
now  employed  in  the  hard  servile  labour  of  beating 
corn  for  the  king's  dinner,  which  raised  the  noise 
that  made  me  thus  inquisitive.  I  wished  myself  in 
her  place  for  her  ease  :  but  the  queens  of  that 
country  do  esteem  it  a  privilege  to  serve  their  hus- 
bands in  all  kinds  of  cookery,  which  they  would  be 
as  loth  to  lose,  as  any  Christian  queen  would  be  to 
take  it  from  them. 

Several  Indians  of  the  first  rank  followed  me  to 
our  quarters,  and  used  their  best  endeavors  to  sift 
something  from  us  that  might  give  them  light  into 
knowing   what  we  were.      They    sought   many  ways 


32  COLONEL   NORWOOD. 

to  make  their  thoughts  intelligible  to  us,  but  still  we 
parted  without  knowing  what  to  fix  upon,  or  how  to 
steer  our  course  in  advance  of  our  way  to  Virginia. 


AN    INDIAN    PRINCESS. 

[From  the  Same.] 

To  the  young  princess,  that  had  so  signally 
obliged  me,  I  presented  a  piece  of  two-penny  scarlet 
ribbon,  and  a  French  tweezer,  that  I  had  in  my 
pocket,  which  made  her  skip  for  joy,  and  to  shew 
how  little  she  fancied  our  way  of  carrying  them 
concealed,  she  retired  apart  for  some  time,  and  tak- 
ing out  every  individual  piece  of  which  it  was  fur- 
nished, she  tied  a  snip  of  ribbon  to  each,  and  so 
came  back  with  scissors,  knives  and  bodkins  hanging 
at  her  ears,  neck  and  hair.  The  case  itself  was  not 
excused,  but  bore  a  part  in  this  new  dress  :  and  to 
the  end  we  might  not  part  without  leaving  deep 
impressions  of  her  beauty  in  our  minds,  she  had  pre- 
pared on  her  forefingers,  a  lick  of  paint  on  each,  the 
colors  (to  my  best  remembrance)  green  and  yellow, 
which  at  one  motion  she  discharged  on  her  face, 
beginning  upon  her  temples,  and  continuing  it  in  an 
oval  line  downwards  as  far  as  it  would  hold  out. 
I  could  have  wished  this  young  princess  would  have 
contented  herself  with  what  nature  had  done  for  her, 
without  this  addition  of  paint  (which,  I  thought, 
made  her  more  fulsome  than  handsome)  ;  but  I  had 
reason  to  imagine  the  royal    family  were  only  to  use 


AN    INDIAN    PRINCESS.  33 

this  ornament  exclusive  of  all  others,  for  that  I  saw 
none  other  of  her  sex  so  set  off ;  and  this  conceit 
made  it  turn  again,  and  appear  lovely,  as  all  things 
should  do  that  are  honored  with  the  royal  stamp. 


WILLIAM    BRADFORD. 

William  Bradford  was  born  at  Austcrfield  in 
Yorkshire  in  March  of  1588,  and  died  at  Plymouth, 
Massachusetts,  on  the  9th  of  May,  1657.  Born  a 
yeoman  freeholder  of  Yorkshire,  of  native  seriousness 
and  inclined  to  religion,  he  joined  the  Puritans  at 
eighteen,  and  at  twenty  emigrated  to  Holland,  where 
he  was  prominent  in  urging  the  emigration  of  his 
co-religionists  to  sons  English  colony.  With  a 
hundred  like-minded  men,  the  future  Pilgrim  Fathers, 
he  embarked  at  Southampton  for  Virginia,  in  Septem- 
ber of  1620,  and  on  the  death  of  Governor  Carver, 
a  few  months  after  the  landing  at  Plymouth,  was 
chDsen  governor  of  the  Colony,  a  post  which  he 
held,  with  brief  intermissions,  till  his  death.  In  his 
writings  he  tells  the  story  of  the  planting  of  Plymouth, 
to  which  his  diplomacy,  energy,  and  firmness  contrib- 
uted essentially.  The  account  of  the  events  of  the 
first  year,  known  through  a  mistake  as  "  Mourt's 
Relation,"  to  which  his  fellow-Pilgrim,  Edward  Wins- 
low,  also  contributed,  was  alone  published  during  his 
lifetime  (1622).  Much  more  important  is  his  His- 
tory of  Plymouth  Plantation  from  1620  to  1647, 
a  manuscript  of  270  pages  that,  for  many  years  before 
the  Revolutionary  War,  was  preserved  in  the.  Old 
South  Church,  Boston.  During  that  troubled  time 
it  disappeared   and  was  lost  to  scholars  until  the  use 

34 


WILLIAM    BRADFORD.  35 

of  it,  made  in  Samuel  Wilberforce's  History  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  America  revealed 
its  presence  at  Fulham  Palace,  London,  to  the 
American  antiquarian  Samuel  Drake.  The  clew  thus 
obtained  was  followed  up,  the  manuscript  proved 
indeed  to  be  Bradford's  own,  the  Bishop  of  London 
gave  permission  to  copy  and  print,  and  in  1856  the 
long-standing  gap  in  our  early  literature  was  filled 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society.  Forty-two  years  later  the  manuscript  itself 
was  transferred  to  America  by  the  courtesy  of  the 
Bishop  of  London  and  is  now  in  the  State  House 
at  Boston.  A  new  edition  and  a  7incograph  fac- 
simile was  issued  by  the  State  to  corrrr.cmorate  this 
event.  Bradford's  other  writings  are  contained,  for 
the  greater  part,  in  Alexander  Young's  Chronicles  of 
the  Pilgrim  Fathers  (1 841-1846).  like  the  man, 
his  chief  work  is  characterized  by  dignity,  sobriety, 
benignity,  and  piety.  Bradford  was  a  statesman  and 
a  scholar,  a  man  of  some  literary  ability  and  of 
historical  acumen,  but  above  all  he  was  a  man  of 
balanced  mind,  of  that  type  of  which  Washington 
and  Alfred  the  Great  are  the  noblest  exemplars.  He 
was  well  qualified  to  guide  the  infant  Colony  in  lay- 
ing its  sure  foundations,  well  qualified  too  to  write 
of  the  task  at  which  he  labored.  He  was  a  conscien- 
tious historian,  using  in  the  main  a  straightforward, 
simple  style  ;  yet  not  infrequently  the  spiritual  emo- 
tion, never  long  absent  from  a  true  Puritan,  over- 
masters him  and  informs  his  pages  with  pathos  and 
dignity. 


36  WILLIAM    BRADFORD. 


DEPARTURE   OF   THE   PILGRIMS   (1620). 

[From  the  History  "Of  Plymouth  Planta- 
tion,"   Book  I.] 

THE    SEVENTH    CHAPTER. 

Of  their  departure  from  Leyden,  and  other  things 
there  about,  with  their  arrival  at  Southampton,  where 
they  all  met  together,  and  took  in  their  provisions. 

At  length,  after  much  travail  and  these  debates,  all 
things  were  got  ready  and  provided.  A  small  ship1 
was  bought  and  fitted  in  Holland  which  was  intended 
as  to  serve  to  help  to  transport  them,  so  to  stay  in 
the  country,  and  attend  upon  fishing  and  such  other 
affairs  as  might  be  for  the  good  and  benefit  of  the 
colony  when  they  came  there.  Another  was  hired 
at  London,  of  burden  about  9.  score  ;  and  all  other 
things  got  in  readiness.  So  being  ready  to  depart, 
they  had  a  day  of  solemn  humiliation,  their  pastor 
taking  his  text  from  Ezra  8.  21.  And  there  at  the 
river,  by  Ahava,  1  proclaimed  a  fast  that  we  might 
humble  ourselves  before  our  God,  and  seek  of  him  a 
right  way  for  us,  and  for  our  children,  and  for  all  our 
substance.  Upon  which  he  spent  a  good  part  of 
the  day  very  profitably,  and  suitable  to  their  present 
occasion.  The  rest  of  the  time  was  spent  in  pouring 
out  prayers  to  the  Lord  with  great  fervency  mixed 
with  abundance  of  tears.  And  the  time  being  come 
that  they  must  depart,  they  were  accompanied  with 
most  of  their  brethren  out  of  the  city,  unto  a  town 

1  Of  some  sixty  tons. 


DEPARTURE   OF    PILGRIMS.  37 

sundry  miles  off  called  Delfes  Haven,  where  the 
ships  lay  ready  to  receive  them.  So  they  left  that 
goodly  and  pleasant  city,  which  had  been  their  resting 
place,  near  1 2  years  ;  but  they  knew  thev  were 
pilgrims 1  and  looked  not  much  on  those  things,  but  lift 
up  their  eyes  to  the  heavens,  their  dearest  coun- 
try, and  quieted  their  spirits.  When  they  came 
to  the  place  they  found  the  ship  and  all  things 
ready.  And  such  of  their  friends  as  could  not  come 
with  them  followed  after  them,  and  sundry  also  came 
from  Amsterdam  to  see  them  shipped  and  to  take 
their  leave  of  them.  That  night  was  spent  with 
little  sleep  by  the  most,  but  with  friendly  entertain- 
ment and  Christian  discourse,  and  other  real  expres- 
sions of  true  Christian  love.  The  next  day  the 
wind  being  fair  they  went  aboard,  and  their  friends 
with  them,  where  truly  doleful  was  the  sight  of 
that  sad  and  mournful  parting ;  To  see  what  sighs  and 
sobs  and  prayers  did  sound  amongst  them,  what  tears 
did  rush  from  every  eye,  and  pithy  speeches  pierced 
each  heart ;  that  sundry  of  the  Dutch  strangers  that 
stood  on  the  quay  as  spectators,  could  not  refrain 
from  tears.  Yet  comfortable  and  sweet  it  was  to 
see  such  lively  and  true  expressions  of  dear  and  un- 
fained  love.  But  the  tide  (which  stays  for  no  man) 
calling  them  away  that  were  thus  loath  to  depart,  their 
reverend  pastor  falling  down  on  his  knees  (and  they 
all  with  him,)  with  watery  cheeks  commended  them 
with  most  fervent  prayers  to  the  Lord  and  his  bless- 
ing And  then  with  mutual  embraces  and  many 
tears,  they  took  their  leaves  one  of  another  ;  which 
proved  to  be  the  last  leave  to  many  of  them. 

1  Heb.  fc 


38  WILLIAM    BRADFORD. 

Thus  hoisting  sail,1  with  a  prosperous  wind  they 
came  in  short  time  to  Southampton,  where  they 
found  the  bigger  ship  come  from  London,  lying 
ready  with  all  the  rest  of  their  company.  After  a 
joyful  welcome,  and  mutual  congratulations,  with 
other  friendly  entertainments,  they  fell  to  parley 
about  their  business,  how  to  dispatch  with  the  best 
expedition  ;  as  also  with  their  agents,  about  the 
alteration  of  the  conditions.  Mr.  Carver  pleaded 
he  was  employed  here  at  Hampton  and  knew  not  well 
what  the  other  had  done  at  London.  Mr.  Cush- 
man  answered,  he  had  done  nothing  but  what  he 
was  urged  to  partly  by  the  grounds  of  equity  and 
more  especially  by  necessity,  otherwise  all  had  been 
dashed  and  many  undone.  And  in  the  beginning  he 
acquainted  his  fellow  agents  herewith,  who  con- 
sented unto  him,  and  left  it  to  him  to  execute,  and  to 
receive  the  money  at  London,  and  send  it  down  to 
them  at  Hampton,  where  they  made  the  provisions  ; 
the  which  he  accordingly  did,  though  it  was  against 
his  mind,  and  some  of  the  merchants,  that  they  were 
there  made.  And  for  giving  them  notice  at  Leyden 
of  this  change,  he  could  not  well  in  regard  of  the 
shortness  of  the  time;  again,  he  knew  it  would  trouble 
them  and  hinder  the  business,  which  was  already 
delayed  overlong  in  regard  of  the  season  of  the  year, 
which  he  feared  they  would  find  to  their  cost.  But 
these  things  gave  not  content  at  present.  Mr. 
Weston,  likewise,  came  up  from  London  to  see 
them  dispatched  and  to  have  the  conditions  con- 
firmed ;  but  they  refused,  and  answered  him,  that  he 
Knew  right  well  that  these  were  not  according  to  the 

1  This  vJae  about  22  of  July. 


THE  COMPACT.  39 

first  agreement,  neither  could  they  yield  to  them 
without  the  consent  of  the  rest  that  were  behind  and 
indeed  they  had  special  charge  when  they  came 
away,  from  the  chief  of  those  that  were  behind,  not 
to  do  it.  At  which  he  was  much  offended,  and 
told  them,  they  must  then  look  to  stand  on  their 
own  legs.  So  he  returned  in  displeasure,  and  this  was 
the  first  ground  of  discontent  between  them.  And 
whereas  there  wanted  well  near  ^100  to  clear  things 
at  their  going  away,  he  would  not  take  order  to 
disburse  a  penny,  but  let  them  shift  as  they  could. 
So  they  were  forced  to  sell  off  some  of  their  provi- 
sions to  stop  this  gap  which  was  some  3.  or  4.  score 
firkins  of  butter,  which  commodity  they  might  best 
spare,  having  provided  too  large  a  quantity  of  that 
kind. 

THE    COMPACT. 
[From  the  Same,    Book  II.] 

THE    2    BOOKE. 

The  rest  of  this  History  (if  God  gives  me  life,  and 
opportunity)  I  shall,  for  brevity's  sake,  handle  by  way 
of  Annals,  noting  only  the  heads  of  principal  things, 
and  passages  as  they  fell  in  order  of  time,  and  may 
seem  to  be  profitable  to  know,  or  to  make  use  of. 
And  this  may  be  as  the  second  Book. 

The  Remainder  of  Anno  :  1620. 

I  shall  a  little  return  back  and  begin  with  a  com- 
bination made  by  them  before  they  came  ashore,  being 
the  first  foundation  of  their  government  in  this  place  ; 


40  WILLIAM    BRADFORD. 

occasioned  partly  by  the  discontented  mutinous  and 
speeches  that  some  of  the  strangers  amongst  them  had 
let  fall  from  them  in  the  ship  —  That  when  they  came 
ashore  they  would  use  their  own  liberty ;  for  none 
had  power  to  command  them,  the  patent  they  had 
being  for  Virginia,  and  not  for  New  England,  which 
belonged  to  another  Government,  with  which  the 
Virginia  Company  had  nothing  to  do.  And  partly 
that  such  an  act  by  them  done  (this  their  condition 
considered)  might  be  as  firm  as  any  patent,  and  in 
some  respects  more  sure. 

The  form  was  as  followeth.1 

In  ye  name  of  God,  Amen.  We  whose  names  are 
vnderwriten,  the  loyall  subje&s  of  our  dread  soueraigne 
Lord,  l&iug  3ameS,  by  ye  grace  of  God,  of  great  Brit- 
aine,  Franc,  &  Ireland  king,  defender  of  ye  faith,  &c. 

Haueing  vndertaken,  for  ye  glorie  of  God,  and  ad- 
vancemente  of  ye  christian  faith  and  honour  of  our 
king  &  countrie,  a  voyage  to  plant  ye  first  colonie  in 
ye  Northene  parts  of  Virginia.  Doe  by  these  pres- 
ents solemnly  &  mutualy  in  ye  presence  of  God,  and' 
one  of  another,  couenant,  &  combine  our  selues  to- 
geather  into  a  Ciuill  body  politick,  for  our  better 
ordering,  &  preseruation  &  furtherance  of  ye  ends 
aforesaid  ;  and  by  Vertue  hearof  to  enacte,  constitute, 
and  frame,  such  just  &  equall  lawes,  ordinances,  Acts, 
constitutions,  &  offices,  from  time  to  time,  as  shall  be 
thought  most  meete  &  conuenient  for  ye  generall  good 
of  ye  Colonie,  vnto  which  we  promise  all  due  sub- 
mission and  obedience.  In  witnes  whereof  we  haue 
herevnder  subscribed  our  names  at  Cap-Codd  ye.  1 1 . 

1  In  the  original  orthography. 


THE   COMPACT.  41 

of  Nouember,  in  ye  year  of  ye  raigne  of  our  souer- 
aigne  Lord,  King  lames,  of  England,  France,  &  Ireland 
ye  eighteenth,  and  of  Scotland  ye  fiftie  fourth.      Anc 
Dom.  1620J 


42  WILLIAM    BRADFORD. 

EARLY  DIFFICULTIES   OF  THE   PILGRIM 
FATHERS    (1620). 

[From  the  Same,   Book  II.] 

In  these  hard  and  difficult  beginnings  they  found 
some  discontents  and  murmurings  arise  amongst  some, 
and  mutinous  speeches  and  carriages  in  other  ;  but 
they  were  soon  quelled,  and  overcome,  by  the  wis- 
dom, patience,  and  just  and  equal  carriage  of  things, 
by  the  Governor  and  better  part  which  clave  faith- 
fully together  in  the  main.  But  that  which  was  most 
sad,  and  lamentable,  was,  that  in  two  or  three  months' 
time  half  of  their  company  died,  especially  in  January 
and  February,  being  the  depth  of  winter,  and  wanting 
houses  and  other  comforts  ;  being  infected  with  scurvy 
and  other  diseases,  which  this  long  voyage  and  their 
inaccommodate  condition  had  brought  upon  them  ; 
so  as  there  died  sometimes  two  or  three  of  a  day,  in 
the  foresaid  time  ;  that  of  one  hundred  and  odd 
persons  scarce  fifty  remained  :  and  of  these  in  the 
time  of  most  distress  there  was  but  six  or  seven 
sound  persons  ;  who  to  their  great  commendations,  be 
it  spoken,  spared  no  pains,  night  nor  day,  but  with 
abandance  of  toil  and  hazard  of  their  own  health, 
fetched  them  wood,  made  them  fires,  drest  them  meat, 
made  their  beds,  washed  their  loathsome  clothes, 
clothed  and  unclothed  them  ;  in  a  word  did  all  the 
homely,  and  necessary  offices  for  them,  which  dainty 
and  queasy  stomachs  cannot  endure  to  hear  named 
and  all  this  willingly  and  cheerfully,  without  any 
grudging  in  the  least,  showing  herein  their  true  love 


EARLY    DIFFICULTIES.  43 

unto  their  friends  and  brethren  ;  a  rare  example  and 
worthy  to  be  remembered.  Two  of  these  seven 
were  Mr.  William  Brewster  their  reverend  Elder, 
and  Myles  Standish  their  Captain  and  military  com- 
mander (unto  whom  myself,  and  many  others  were 
much  beholden  in  our  low,  and  sick  condition)  and 
yet  the  Lord  so  upheld  these  persons,  as  in  this  gen- 
eral calamity  they  were  not  at  all  infected  either  with 
sickness,  or  lameness.  And  what  I  have  said  of  these, 
I  may  say  of  many  others  who  died  in  this  general 
visitation  and  others  yet  living  ;  that  whilst  they  had 
health,  yea  or  any  strength  continuing  they  were  not 
wanting  to  any  that  had  need  of  them  ;  and  I  doubt 
not  but  their  recompense  is  with  the  Lord. 

But  I  may  not  here  pass  by  another  remarkable 
passage  not  to  be  forgotten.  As  this  calamity  fell 
among  the  passengers  that  were  to  be  ■feft  here  to 
plant,  and  were  hasted  ashore  and  made  to  drink 
water,  that  the  seamen  might  have  the  more  beer, 
and  one l  in  his  sickness  desiring  but  a  small  can  of 
beer,  it  was  answered,  that  if  he  were  their  own 
father  he  should  have  none  ;  the  disease  began  to  fall 
amongst  them  also,  so  as  almost  half  of  their  company 
died  before  they  went  away,  and  many  of  their  offi- 
cers and  lustiest  men,  as  the  boatswain,  gunner,  three 
quartermasters,  the  cook,  and  others.  At  which  the 
master  was  something  struck  and  sent  to  the  sick 
ashore  and  told  the  Governor  he  should  send  for 
beer  for  them  that  had  need  of  it,  though  he  drunk 
water  homeward  bound.  But  now  amongst  his  com- 
pany there  was  far  another  kind  of  carriage  in  this 
misery  than  amongst  the  passengers  ;    for  they  that 

1  Which  was  this  author  himself. 


44  WILLIAM    BRADFORD. 

before  had  been  boon  companions  in  drinking  and 
jollity  in  the  time  of  their  health  and  welfare,  began 
now  to  desert  one  another  in  this  calamity,  saying 
they  would  not  hazard  their  lives  for  them,  they 
should  be  infected  by  coming  to  help  them  in  their 
cabins,  and  so,  after  they  came  to  die  by  it,  would 
do  little  or  nothing  for  them,  but  if  they  died  let  them 
die.  But  such  of  the  passengers  as  were  yet  aboard 
showed  them  what  mercy  they  could,  which  made 
some  of  their  hearts  relent,  as  the  boatswain  (and 
some  others),  who  was  a  proud  young  man,  and 
would  often  curse  and  scoff  at  the  passengers  :  but  when 
he  grew  weak,  they  had  compassion  on  him  and 
helped  him  ;  then  he  confessed  he  did  not  deserve  it 
at  their  hands,  he  had  abused  them  in  word  and  deed. 
O  !  saith  he,  you,  I  now  see,  show  your  love  like 
Christians  indeed  one  to  another,  but  we  let  one  an- 
other lie  and  die  like  dogs.  Another  lay  cursing  his 
wife,  saying  if  it  had  not  been  for  her  he  had  never 
come  this  unlucky  voyage,  and  anon  cursing  his  fellows, 
saying  he  had  done  this  and  that,  for  some  of  them, 
he  had  spent  so  much,  and  so  much,  amongst  them, 
and  they  were  now  weary  of  him,  and  did  not  help 
him,  having  need.  Another  gave  his  companion  all 
he  had,  if  he  died,  to  help  him  in  his  weakness  :  he 
went  and  got  a  little  spice  and  made  him  a  mess  of 
meat  once  or  twice,  and  because  he  died  not  so  soon 
as  he  expected,  he  went  amongst  his  fellows,  and 
swore  the  rogue  would  cozen  him,  he  would  see  him 
choked  before  he  made  him  any  more  meat  :  and  yet 
the  poor  fellow  died  before  morning. 

All  this  while  the  Indians  came  skulking  about  them, 
and  would  sometimes  show  themselves  aloof  of,  but 


EARLY   DIFFICULTIES.  45 

when  any  approached  near  them,  they  would  run 
away  ;  and  once  they  stole  away  their  tools  where 
they  had  been  at  work  and  were  gone  to  dinner. 
But  about  the  16  of  March  a  certain  Indian  came 
boldly  amongst  them,  and  spoke  to  them  in  broken 
English,  which  they  could  well  understand,  but  mar- 
velled at  it.  At  length  they  understood  by  discourse 
with  him,  that  he  was  not  of  these  parts,  but 
belonged  to  the  eastern  parts  where  some  English 
ships  came  to  fish,  with  whom  he  was  acquainted, 
and  could  name  sundry  of  them  by  their  names, 
amongst  whom  he  had  got  his  language.  He  became 
profitable  to  them  in  acquainting  them  with  many 
things  concerning  the  state  of  the  country  in  the  East- 
parts  where  he  lived,  which  was  afterwards  profitable 
unto  them  ;  as  also  of  the  people  here,  of  their 
names,  number  and  strength,  of  their  situation  and 
distance  from  this  place,  and  who  was  chief  amongst 
them.  His  name  was  Samasett  ;  he  told  them  also 
of  another  Indian  whose  name  was  Squanto,  a  native 
of  this  place,  who  had  been  in  England  and  could 
speak  better  English  than  himself.  Being  after  some 
time  of  entertainment,  and  gifts  dismissed,  a  while 
after  he  came  again,  and  five  more  with  him,  and 
they  brought  again  all  the  tools  that  were  stolen 
away  before,  and  made  way  for  the  coming  of  their 
great  Sachem,  called  Massasoyt.  Who  about  four  or 
five  days  came  with  the  chief  of  his  friends,  and 
other  attendance  with  the  aforesaid  Squanto.  With 
whom  after  friendly  entertainment,  and  some  gifts 
given  him,  they  made  a  peace  with  him  (which  hath 
now  continued  this  twenty-four  years). 


46  WILLIAM    BRADFORD. 

CHRISTMAS    SPORTS    (1622). 

[From  the  Same,   Book  II.] 

On  the  day  called  Christmas- day,  the  Governor 
called  them  out  to  work,  (as  was  used)  but  the  most 
of  this  new  company  excused  themselves,  and  said  it 
went  against  their  consciences  to  work  on  that  day. 
So  the  Governor  told  them  that  if  they  made  it  mat- 
ter of  conscience,  he  would  spare  them,  till  they 
were  better  informed  ;  so  he  led  away  the  rest  and 
left  them  ;  but  when  they  came  home  at  noon,  from 
their  work,  he  found  them  in  the  street  at  play 
openly  ;  some  pitching  the  bar,  and  some  at  stool- 
ball,  and  such  like  sports.  So  he  went  to  them,  and 
took  away  their  implements,  and  told  them,  that  was 
against  his  conscience,  that  they  should  play,  and 
others  work  ;  if  they  made  the  keeping  of  it  matter 
of  devotion,  let  them  keep  their  houses,  but  there 
should  be  no  gaming,  or  revelling  in  the  streets. 
Since  which  time  nothing  hath  been  attempted  that 
way,  at  least  openly.    .    .    . 

THE  COMMUNAL  SYSTEM  ABANDONED 

(1623). 

[From  the  Same,   Book  IL] 

So  they  began  to  think  how  they  might  raise  as 
much  corn  as  they  could,  and  obtain  a  better  crop 
than  they  had  done  ;  that  they  might  not  still  thus 
'anguish   in    misery.      At  length,   af.er  much  debate 


THE   COMMUNAL   SYSTEM.  47 

of  things,  the  Governor  (with  the  advice  of  the 
chiefest  amongst  them)  gave  way  that  they  should  set 
corn  every  man  for  his  own  particular,  and  in  that 
regard  trust  to  themselves  ;  in  all  other  things  to  go 
on  in  the  general  way  as  before.  And  so  assigned  to 
every  family  a  parcel  of  land,  according  to  the  pro- 
portion of  their  number,  for  that  end,  only  for  present 
use  (but  made  no  division  for  inheritance),  and 
ranged  all  boys,  and  youth  under  some  family.  This 
had  very  good  success  ;  for  it  made  all  hands  very 
industrious,  so  as  much  more  corn  was  planted,  than 
otherwise  would  have  been  ;  by  any  means  the  Gov- 
ernor or  any  other  could  use,  and  saved  him  a  great 
deal  of  trouble,  and  gave  far  better  content.  The 
women  now  went  willingly  into  the  field,  and  took 
their  little  ones  with  them  to  set  corn  ;  which  before 
would  allege  weakness  and  inability  ;  whom  to  have 
compelled  would  have  been  thought  great  tyranny, 
and  oppression. 

The  experience  that  was  had  in  this  common  course, 
and  condition,  tried  sundry  years,  and  that  amongst 
godly,  and  sober  men  ;  may  well  evince,  the  vanity 
of  that  conceit  of  Plato's,  and  other  ancients,  applauded 
by  some  of  later  times.  That  the  taking  away  of 
property,  and  bringing  in  community  into  a  com- 
monwealth ;  would  make  them  happy  and  flour- 
ishing ;  as  if  they  were  wiser  than  God  ;  for  this 
community,  (so  far  as  it  was)  was  found  to  breed 
much  confusion,  and  discontent,  and  retard  much 
employment,  that  would  have  been  to  their  benefit, 
and  comfort.  For  the  young  men  that  were  most 
able  and  fit  for  labor,  and  service,  did  repine  that 
they  should  spend   their  time  and  strength   to  work 


48  WILLIAM    BRADFORD. 

for  other  men's  wives,  and  children,  without  any 
recompense.  The  strong,  or  man  of  parts,  had  no 
more  in  division  of  victuals,  and  clothes,  than  he  that 
was  weak,  and  not  able  to  do  a  quarter  the  other 
could,  this  was  thought  injustice.  The  aged  and 
graver  men  to  be  ranked,  and  equalised,  in  labors,  and 
victuals,  clothes,  &c,  with  the  meaner,  and  younger 
sort,  thought  it  some  indignity,  and  disrespect  unto 
them.  And  for  men's  wives  to  be  commanded,  to 
do  service  for  other  men,  as  dressing  their  meat,  wash- 
ing their  clothes,  &c,  they  deemed  it  a  kind  of  slav- 
ery, neither  could  many  husbands  well  brook  it. 
Upon  the  point  all  being  to  have  alike,  and  all  to  do 
alike,  they  thought  themselves  in  the  like  condition, 
and  one  as  good  as  another  ;  and  so  if  it  did  not  cut 
off  those  relations,  that  God  hath  set  amongst  men  ; 
yet  it  did  at  least  much  diminish,  and  take  off  the 
mutual  respects,  that  should  be  preserved  amongst 
them.  And  would  have  been  worse  if  they  had  been 
men  of  another  condition.  Let  none  object  this  is 
men's  corruption  ;  and  nothing  to  the  course  itself; 
I  answer,  seeing  all  men  have  this  corruption  in  them, 
God  in  his  wisdom  saw  another  course  fitter  for 
them. 

But  to  return.  After  this  course  settled,  and  by 
that  their  corn  was  planted,  all  their  victuals  were 
spent,  and  they  were  only  to  rest  on  God's  provi- 
dence ;  at  night  not  many  times  knowing  where  to 
have  a  bit  of  any  thing  the  next  day.  And  so,  as  one 
well  observed,  had  need  to  pray  that  God  would  give 
them  their  daily  bread,  above  all  people  in  the  world. 
Yet  they  bore  these  wants  with  great  patience  and 
alacrity  of  spirit,  and  that  for  so  long  a  time  as  for  the 


THE   COMMUNAL   SYSTEM.  49 

most  part  of  two  years  ;  which  makes  me  remember 
what  Peter  Martyr  writes,  (in  magnifying  the  Span- 
iards) in  his  Fifth  Decade,  page  208.  They  (saith 
he)  led  a  miserable  life  for  five  days  together ■,  with 
the  parched  grain  of  maize  only,  and  that  not  to 
saturity ;  and  then  concludes,  that  such  pains,  such 
labors,  and  such  hunger,  he  thought  none  living  which 
is  not  a  Spaniard  could  have  endured.  But  alas  ! 
these,  when  they  had  maize  (that  is,  Indian  corn) 
they  thought  it  as  good  as  a  feast,  and  wanted  not 
only  for  five  days  together,  but  some  times  two  or 
three  months  together,  and  neither  had  bread  nor  any 
kind  of  corn.  Indeed,  in  another  place,  in  his  Sec- 
ond Decade  page  94.  he  mentions  how  others  of  them 
were  worse  put  to  it,  where  they  were  fain  to  eat 
dogs,  toads,  and  dead  men,  and  so  died  almost  all. 
From  these  extremities  the  Lord  in  his  goodness  kept 
these  his  people,  and  in  their  wants  preserved  both 
their  lives  and  their  healths  ;  let  his  name  have  the 
praise.  Yet  let  me  here  make  use  of  his  conclusion, 
which  in  some  sort  may  be  applied  to  this  people  : 
That  with  their  miseries  they  opened  a  way  to  these 
new  lands ;  and  after  these  storms,  with  what  ease 
other  men  came  to  inhabit  in  them,  in  respect  of  the 
calamities  these  men  suffered ;  so  as  they  seem  to  go  to 
a  bride  feast  where  all  things  are  provided  for  them. 


50  WILLIAM    BRADFORD. 

MORTON  AND    MERRY    MOUNT    (1628). 

[From  the  Same,   Book  11.] 

About  some  three  or  four  years  before  this  time, 
there  came  over  one  Captain  Wollaston,  (a  man  of 
pretty  parts,)  and  with  him  three  or  four  more  of 
some  eminency,  who  brought  with  them  a  great  many 
servants,  with  provisions  and  other  implements  for  to 
begin  a  plantation  ;  and  pitched  themselves  in  a  place 
within  the  Massachusetts,  which  they  called,  after 
their  captain's  name,  Mount  Wollaston.  Amongst 
whom  was  one  Mr.  Morton,  who,  it  should  seem, 
had  some  small  adventure  (of  his  own  or  other  men's) 
amongst  them  ;  but  had  little  respect  amongst  them, 
and  was  slighted  by  the  meanest  servants.  Having 
continued  there  some  time,  and  not  finding  things  to 
answer  their  expectations,  nor  profit  to  arise  as  they 
looked  for,  Captain  Wollaston  takes  a  great  part  of 
the  servants,  and  transports  tnem  to  Virginia,  where 
he  puts  them  off  at  good  rates,  selling  their  time  to 
other  men  ;  and  writes  back  to  one  Mr.  Rassdall,  one 
of  his  chief  partners,  and  accounted  their  merchant, 
to  bring  another  part  of  them  to  Virginia  likewise, 
intending  to  put  them  off  there  as  he  had  done  the 
rest.  And  he,  with  the  consent  of  the  said  Rassdall, 
appointed  one  Fkcher  to  be  his  Lieutenant,  and  gov- 
ern the  remains  of  the  plantation,  till  he  or  Rassdall 
returned  to  take  further  order  thereabout.  But  this 
Morton  above-said,  having  more  craft  than  honesty, 
(who  had  been  a  kind  of  pettifogger,  of  Furnefell's 
Inn,)  in  the  other's  absence,  watches  an  opportunity, 


MORTON  AND  MERRY  MOUNT.    5 1 

(commons  being  but  hard  amongst  them,)  and  got 
some  strong  drink  and  other  junkets,  and  made  them 
a  feast  ;  and  after  they  were  merry,  he  began  to  tell 
them,  he  would  give  them  good  counsel.  "You 
see,"  saith  he,  "that  many  of  your  fellows  are 
carried  to  Virginia  ;  and  if  you  stay  till  this  Rassdall 
return,  you  will  also  be  carried  away  and  sold  for 
slaves  with  the  rest.  Therefore  I  would  advise  you 
to  thrust  out  this  Lieutenant  Fitcher  ;  and  I,  having 
a  part  in  the  plantation,  will  receive  you  as  my  part- 
ners and  consociates  ;  so  may  you  be  free  from  ser- 
vice, and  we  will  converse,  trade,  plant,  and  live 
together  as  equals,  and  support  and  protect  one  an- 
other," or  to  like  effect.  This  counsel  Was  easily 
received  ;  so  they  took  opportunity,  and  thrust  Lieu- 
tenant Fitcher  out  of  doors,  and  would  suffer  him 
to  come  no  more  amongst  them,  but  forced  him  to 
seek  bread  to  eat,  and  other  relief  from  his  neighbors, 
till  he  could  get  passages  for  England.  After  this 
they  fell  to  great  licentiousness,  and  led  a  dissolute 
life,  pouring  out  themselves  into  all  profaneness. 
And  Morton  became  lord  of  misrule,  and  maintained 
(as  it  were)  a  school  of  Atheism.  And  after  they 
had  got  some  goods  into  their  hands,  and  got  much 
by  trading  with  the  Indians,  they  spent  it  as  vainly,  in 
quaffing  and  drinking  both  wine  and  strong  waters  in 
great  excess,  and,  as  some  reported,  ten  shillings 
worth  in  a  morning.  They  also  set  up  a  May-pole, 
drinking  and  dancing  about  it  many  days  together, 
inviting  the  Indian  women,  for  their  consorts,  danc- 
ing and  frisking  together,  (like  so  many  fairies,  or 
furies  rather,)  and  worse  practices.  As  if  they  had 
anew  revived  and  celebrated  the  feast  of  the   Roman 


52  WILLIAM    BRADFORD. 

goddess  Flora,  or  the  beastly  practices  of  the  mad 
Bacchanalians.  Morton  likewise  (to  show  his  poetry) 
composed  sundry  rhymes  and  verses,  some  tending  to 
lasciviousness,  and  others  to  the  detraction  and  scandal 
of  some  persons,  which  he  affixed  to  this  idle  or  idol 
May-pole.  They  changed  also  the  name  of  their 
place,  and  instead  of  calling  it  Mount  Wollaston, 
they  call  it  Merry  Mount,  as  if  this  jollity  would 
have  lasted  ever.  But  this  continued  not  long,  for 
after  Morton  was  sent  for  England,  (as  follows  to  be 
declared,)  shortly  after  came  over  that  worthy  gentle- 
man, Mr.  John  Endicott,  who  brought  over  a  patent 
under  the  broad  seal,  for  the  government  of  the 
Massachusetts,  who  visiting  those  parts  caused  that 
May-pole  to  be  cut  down,  and  rebuked  them  for  their 
profaneness,  and  admonished  them  to  look  there  should 
be  better  walking  ;  so  they  now,  or  others,  changed 
the  name  of  their  place  again,  and  called  it  Mount 
Dagon. 

Now,  to  maintain  this  riotous  prodigality  and  pro- 
fuse excess,  Morton,  thinking  himself  lawless,  and 
hearing  what  gain  the  French  and  fishermen  made  by 
trading  of  pieces,  powder,  and  shot  to  the  Indians, 
he,  as  the  head  of  this  consortship,  began  the  practice 
of  the  same  in  these  parts  ;  and  first  he  taught  them 
how  to  use  them,  to  charge  and  discharge,  and  what 
proportion  of  powder  to  give  the  piece,  according  to 
the  size  or  bigness  of  the  same  ;  and  what  shot  to 
use  for  fowl,  and  what  for  deer.  And  having  thus 
instructed  them,  he  employed  some  of  them  to  hunt 
and  fowl  for  him,  so  as  they  became  far  more  active 
in  that  employment  than  any  of  the  English,  by  reason 
of  their  swiftness   of  foot,    and  nimbleness  of  body, 


MORTON    AND    MERRY    MOUNT.         53 

being  also  quick-sighted,  and  by  continual  exercise 
well  knowing  the  haunts  of  all  sorts  of  game.  So  as 
when  they  saw  the  execution  that  a  piece  would  do, 
and  the  benefit  that  might  come  by  the  same,  they 
became  mad,  as  it  were,  after  them,  afid  would  not 
stick  to  give  any  price  they  could  attain  to  for  them  ; 
accounting  their  bows  and  arrows  but  baubles  in  com- 
parison of  them. 

And  here  I  may  take  occasion  to  bewail  the  mis- 
chief that  this  wicked  man  began  in  these  parts,  and 
which  since  base  covetousness  prevailing  in  men  that 
should  know  better,  has  now  at  length  got  the  upper 
hand,  and  made  this  thing  common,  notwithstanding 
any  laws  to  the  contrary  ;  so  as  the  Indians  are  full 
of  pieces  all  over,  both  fowling  pieces,  muskets,  pis- 
tols, etc.  They  have  also  their  moulds  to  make  shot, 
of  all  sorts,  as  musket  bullets,  pistol  bullets,  swan  and 
goose  shot,  and  of  smaller  sorts  ;  yea,  some  have  seen 
them  have  their  screw-plates  to  make  screw-pins  them- 
selves, when  they  want  them,  with  sundry  other  im- 
plements, wherewith  they  are  ordinarily  better  fitted 
and  furnished  than  the  English  themselves.  Yea,  it 
is  well  known  that  they  will  have  powder  and  shot, 
when  the  English  want  it,  nor  can  not  get  it  ;  and 
that  in  a  time  of  war  or  danger,  as  experience  hath 
manifested,  that  when  lead  hath  been  scarce,  and 
men  for  their  own  defence  would  gladly  have  given 
a  groat  a  pound,  which  is  dear  enough,  yet  hath  it 
been  bought  up  and  sent  to  other  places,  and  sold  to 
such  as  trade  it  with  the  Indians,  at  twelve  pence  the 
pound  ;  and  it  is  like  they  give  three  or  four  shillings 
the  pound,  for  they  will  have  it  at  any  rate.  And 
these  things  have  been  done  in  the  same  times,  when 


54  WILLIAM    BRADFORD. 

some  of  their  neighbors  and  friends  are  daily  killed  by 
the  Indians,  or  are  in  danger  thereof,  and  live  but  at 
the  Indians'  mercy.  Yea,  some  (as  they  have  ac- 
quainted them  with  all  other  things)  have  told  them 
how  gunpowder  is  made,  and  all  the  materials  in  it, 
and  that  they  are  to  be  had  in  their  own  land  ;  and 
I  am  confident,  could  they  attain  to  make  saltpetre, 
they  would  teach  them  to  make  powder.  Oh,  the 
horribleness  of  this  villany  !  how  many  both  Dutch  and 
English  have  been  lately  slain  by  those  Indians,  thus 
furnished  ;  and  no  remedy  provided,  nay,  the  evil  more 
increased,  and  the  blood  of  their  brethren  sold  for 
gain,  as  is  to  be  feared  ;  and  in  what  danger  all  these 
colonies  are  in  is  too  well  known.  Oh  !  that  princes 
and  parliaments  would  take  some  timely  order  to 
prevent  this  mischief,  and  at  length  to  suppress  it,  by 
some  exemplary  punishment  upon  some  of  these  gain- 
thirsty  murderers,  (for  they  deserve  no  better  title,) 
before  their  colonies  in  these  parts  be  overthrown  by 
these  barbarous  savages,  thus  armed  with  their  own 
weapons,  by  these  evil  instruments,  and  traitors  to 
their  neighbors  and  country.  But  I  have  forgot  my- 
self, and  have  been  too  long  in  this  digression  ;  but 
now  to  return  :  This  Morton  having  thus  taught 
them  the  use  of  pieces,  he  sold  them  all  he  could 
spare  ;  and  he  and  his  consorts  determined  to  send 
for  many  out  of  England,  and  had  by  some  of  the 
ships  sent  for  above  a  score  ;  the  which  being 
known,  and  his  neighbors  meeting  the  Indians  in  the 
woods  armed  with  guns  in  this  sort,  it  was  a  terror 
unto  them,  who  lived  stragglingly,  and  were  of  no 
strength  in  any  place.  And  other  places  (though 
more  remote)  saw  this  mischief  would  quickly  spread 


MORTON  AND  MERRY  MOUNT.    55 

over  all,  if  not  prevented.  Besides,  they  saw  they 
should  keep  no  servants,  for  Morton  would  entertain 
any,  how  vile  soever,  and  all  the  scum  of  the  coun- 
try, or  any  discontents,  would  flock  to  him  from  all 
places,  if  this  nest  was  not  broken  ;  and  they  should 
stand  in  more  fear  of  their  lives  and  goods  (in  short 
time)  from  this  wicked  and  debauched  crew,  than 
from  the  savages  themselves. 

So  sundry  of  the  chief  of  the  straggling  plantations, 
meeting  together,  agreed  by  mutual  consent  to  solicit 
those  of  Plymouth  (who  were  then  of  more  strength 
than  them  all)  to  join  with  them  to  prevent  the  fur- 
ther growth  of  this  mischief,  and  suppress  Morton 
and  his  consorts  before  they  grew  to  further  head  and 
strength.  Those  that  joined  in  this  action  (and  after 
contributed  to  the  charge  of  sending  him  for  England) 
were  from  Pascataway,  Namkeake,  Winisimett,  Wee- 
sagascusett,  Natasco,  and  other  places  where  any  Eng- 
lish were  seated.  Those  of  Plymouth  being  thus 
sought  too  by  their  messengers  and  letters,  and  weigh- 
ing both  their  reasons,  and  the  common  danger,  were 
willing  to  afford  them  their  help  ;  though  themselves 
had  least  cause  of  fear  or  hurt.  So,  to  be  short,  they 
first  resolved  jointly  to  write  to  him,  and  in  a  friendly 
and  neighborly  way  to  admonish  him  to  forbear 
these  courses,  and  sent  a  messenger  with  their  letters 
to  bring  his  answer.  But  he  was  so  high  as  he  scorned 
all  advice,  and  asked  who  had  to  do  with  him  ;  he 
had  and  would  trade  pieces  with  the  Indians  in  de- 
spite of  all,  with  many  other  scurrilous  terms  full  of 
disdain.  They  sent  to  him  a  second  time,  and  bade 
him  be  better  advised,  and  more  temperate  in  his  terms, 
for  the  country  could   not  bear  the  injury  he  did  ;   it 


56  WILLIAM    BRADFORD. 

was  against  their  common  safety,  and  against  the 
king's  proclamation.  He  answered  in  high  terms  as 
before,  and  that  the  king's  proclamation  was  no  law  ; 
demanding  what  penalty  was  upon  it.  It  was  an- 
swered, more  than  he  could  bear,  his  majesty's  dis- 
pleasure. But  insolently  he  persisted,  and  said  the 
king  was  dead  and  his  displeasure  with  him,  and 
many  the  like  things  ;  and  threatened  withal  that  if  any 
came  to  molest  him,  let  them  look  to  themselves,  for 
he  would  prepare  for  them.  Upon  which  they  saw 
there  was  no  way  but  to  take  him  by  force  ;  and 
having  so  far  proceeded,  now  to  give  over  would 
make  him  far  more  haughty  and  insolent.  So  they 
mutually  resolved  to  proceed,  and  obtained  of  the 
Governor  of  Plymouth  to  send  Captain  Standish,  and 
some  other  aid  with  him,  to  take  Morton  by  force. 
The  which  accordingly  was  done  ;  but  they  found 
him  to  stand  stiffly  in  his  defence,  having  made  fast 
his  doors,  armed  his  consorts,  set  divers  dishes  of 
powder  and  bullets  ready  on  the  table  ;  and  if  they 
had  not  been  overarmed  with  drink,  more  hurt  might 
have  been  done.  They  summoned  him  to  yield,  but 
he  kept  his  house,  and  they  could  get  nothing  but 
scoffs  and  scorns  from  him  ;  but  at  length,  fearing 
they  would  do  some  violence  to  the  house,  he  and 
some  of  his  crew  came  out,  but  not  to  yield,  but  to 
shoot  ;  but  they  were  so  steeled  with  drink  as  their 
pieces  were  too  heavy  for  them  ;  himself  with  a  car- 
bine (overcharged  and  almost  half  filled  with  powder 
and  shot,  as  was  after  found)  had  thought  to  have 
shot  Captain  Standish  ;  but  he  stepped  to  him,  and 
put  by  his  piece,  and  took  him.  Neither  was  there 
any  hurt  done  to  any  of  either  side,  save  that  one 


SOME    REMARKABLE    PASSAGES.       S7 

was  so  drunk  that  he  ran  his  own  nose  upon  the 
point  of  a  sword  that  one  held  before  him  as  he  en- 
tered the  house  ;  but  he  lost  but  a  little  of  his  hot 
blood.  Morton  they  brought  away  to  Plymouth, 
where  he  was  kept,  till  a  ship  went  from  the  Isle  of 
Shoals  for  England,  with  which  he  was  sent  to  the 
Council  of  New-England  ;  and  letters  written  to  give 
them  information  of  his  course  and  carriage  ;  and  also 
one  was  sent  at  their  common  charge  to  inform  their 
Honors  more  particularly,  and  to  prosecute  against 
him.  But  he  fooled  of  the  messenger,  after  he  was 
gone  from  hence,  and  though  he  went  for  England, 
yet  nothing  was  done  to  him,  not  so  much  as  re- 
buked, for  aught  was  heard  ;  but  returned  the  next 
year.  Some  of  the  worst  of  the  company  were  dis- 
persed, and  some  of  the  more  modest  kept  the  house 
till  he  should  be  heard  from.  But  I  have  been  too 
long  about  so  unworthy  a  person,  and  bad  a  cause. 


SOME    STRANGE    AND    REMARKABLE 
PASSAGES  (1634). 

[From  the  Same,   Book  II.] 

I  am  now  to  relate  some  strange  and  remarkable 
passages.  There  was  a  company  of  people  lived  in 
the  country,  up  above  in  the  river  of  Conigtecut,  a 
great  way  from  their  trading  house  there,  and  were 
enemies  to  those  Indians  which  lived  about  them,  and 
of  whom  they  stood  in  some  fear  (being  a  stout  peo- 
ple).     About  a  thousand  of  them  had  enclosed  them- 


58  WILLIAM    BRADFORD. 

selves  in  a  fort,  which  they  had  strongly  pallisadoed 
about.  Three  or  four  Dutchmen  went  up  in  the 
beginning  of  winter  to  live  with  them,  to  get  their 
trade,  and  prevent  them  for  bringing  it  to  the  Eng- 
lish, or  to  fall  into  amity  with  them,  but  at  spring  to 
bring  all  down  to  their  place.  But  their  enterprise 
failed,  for  it  pleased  God  to  visit  these  Indians  with  a 
great  sickness,  and  such  a  mortality  that  of  a  thousand 
above  nine  hundred  and  a  half  of  them  died,  and 
many  of  them  did  rot  above  ground  for  want  of  burial, 
and  the  Dutchmen  almost  starved  before  they  could 
get  away,  for  ice  and  snow.  But  about  February 
they  got  with  much  difficulty  to  their  trading  house  ; 
whom  they  kindly  relieved,  being  almost  spent  with 
hunger  and  cold.  Being  thus  refreshed  by  them 
divers  days,  they  got  to  their  own  place,  and  the 
Dutch  were  very  thankful  for  this  kindness. 

This  spring,  also,  those  Indians  that  lived  about 
their  trading  house  there  fell  sick  of  the  smallpox,  and 
died  most  miserably  ;  for  a  sorer  desease  cannot  be- 
fall them  ;  they  fear  it  more  than  the  plague,  for 
usually  they  that  have  this  disease  have  them  in 
abundance,  and  for  want  of  bedding  and  linen  and 
other  helps,  they  fall  into  a  lamentable  condition,  as 
they  lie  on  their  hard  mats,  the  pox  breaking  and 
mattering,  and  runing  one  into  another,  their  skin 
cleaving  (by  reason  thereof)  to  the  mats  they  lie 
on  ;  when  they  turn  them  a  whole  side  will  flay  off 
at  once,  (as  it  were)  and  they  will  be  all  of  a  gore 
blood,  most  fearful  to  behold  ;  and  then  being  very 
sore,  what  with  cold  and  other  distempers,  they  die 
like  rotten  sheep.  The  condition  of  this  people  was 
so  lamentable,   and   they   fell  down   so  generally  of 


SOME    REMARKABLE    PASSAGES.         59 

this  disease,  as  they  were  (in  the  end)  not  able  to 
help  one  another  ;  no,  not  to  make  a  fire,  nor  to  fetch 
a  little  water  to  drink,  nor  any  to  bury  the  dead  ;  but 
would  strive  as  long  as  they  could,  and  when  they 
could  procure  no  other  means  to  make  fire,  they 
would  burn  the  wooden  trays  and  dishes  they  ate  their 
meat  in,  and  their  very  bows  and  arrows,  and  some 
would  crawl  out  on  all  fours  to  get  a  little  water,  and 
sometimes  die  by  the  way,  and  not  be  able  to  get  in 
again.  But  those  of  the  English  house  (though  at 
first  they  were  afraid  of  the  infection)  yet  seeing 
their  woeful  and  sad  condition,  and  hearing  their 
pitiful  cries  and  lamentations,  they  had  compassion  of 
them,  and  daily  fetched  them  wood  and  water,  and 
made  them  fires,  got  them  victuals  whilst  they  lived, 
and  buried  them  when  they  died.  For  very  few  of 
them  escaped,  notwithstanding  they  did  what  they 
could  for  them,  to  the  hazzard  of  themselves.  The 
chief  Sachem  himself  now  died,  and  almost  all  his 
friends  and  kindred.  But  by  the  marvelous  goodness 
and  providence  of  God  not  one  of  the  English  was 
so  much  as  sick,  or  in  the  least  measure  tainted 
with  this  disease  though  they  daily  did  these  offices 
for  them  for  many  weeks  together.  And  this  mercy 
which  they  showed  them  was  kindly  taken,  and  thank- 
fully acknowledged  of  all  the  Indians  that  knew  or 
heard  of  the  same  ;  and  their  ministers  here  did 
much  commend  and  reward  them  for  the  same. 


60  WILLIAM    BRADFORD. 

CRIME    AMONG   THE   SAINTS    (1638). 

[From  the  Same,   Book  II.] 

This  year  Mr.  Thomas  Prence  was  chosen  Gov- 
ernor. Amongst  other  enormities  that  fell  out  amongst 
them,  this  year  three  men  were  (after  due  trial)  exe- 
cuted for  robbery  and  murder  which  they  had  com- 
mitted ;  their  names  were  these,  Arthur  Peach, 
Thomas  Jackson,  and  Richard  Stinnings  ;  there  was 
a  fourth,  Daniel  Crose  who  was  also  guilty,  but  he 
escaped  away,  and  could  not  be  found.  This 
Arthur  Peach  was  the  chief  of  them,  and  the  ring 
leader  of  all  the  rest.  He  was  a  lusty  and  a  desper- 
ate young  man,  and  had  been  one  of  the  soldiers  in 
the  Pequente  war,  and  had  done  as  good  service  as 
the  most  there,  and  one  of  the  forwardest  in  any 
attempt.  And  being  now  out  of  means,  and  loath  to 
work,  and  falling  to  idle  courses  and  company,  he 
intended  to  go  to  the  Dutch  plantation  ;  and  had 
allured  these  three,  being  other  men's  servants  and  ap- 
prentices, to  go  with  him.  But  another  cause  there  was 
also  of  his  secret  going  away  in  this  manner  ;  he  was 
not  only  run  into  debt,  but  he  had  got  a  maid  with 
child,  (which  was  not  known  till  after  his  death)  a 
man's  servant  in  the  town,  and  fear  of  punishment 
made  him  get  away.  The  other  three  complotting 
with  him,  ran  away  from  their  masters  in  the  night, 
and  could  not  be  heard  of,  for  they  went  not  the 
ordinary  way,  but  shaped  such  a  course  as  they 
thought  to  avoid  the  pursuit  of  any.  But  falling  into 
the  way  that  lieth  between  the  Bay  of  Massachusetts 


CRIME   AMONG   THE    SAINTS.  6l 

and  the  Naragansett,  ana  being  disposed  to  rest  them- 
selves, struck  fire,  and  took  tobacco,  a  little  out  of 
the  way  by  the  way  side.  At  length  there  came  a 
Naragansett  Indian  by,  who  had  been  in  the  Bay 
a  trading,  and  had  both  cloth  and  beads  about  him. 
(They  had  met  him  the  day  before  and  he  was  now 
returning. )  Peach  called  him  to  drink  tobacco  with 
them,  and  he  came  and  sat  down  with  them.  Peach 
told  the  other  [s]  he  would  kill  him  and  take  what  he 
had  from  him.  But  they  were  something  afraid  ; 
but  he  said,  Hang  him,  rogue,  he  had  killed  many 
of  them.  So  they  let  him  alone  to  do  as  he  would; 
and  when  he  saw  his  time  he  took  a  rapier  and  ran 
him  through  the  body  once  or  twice,  and  took  from 
him  five  fathoms  of  wampum  and  three  coats  of  cloth, 
and  went  their  way,  leaving  him  for  dead.  But  he 
scrabled  away,  when  they  were  gone,  and  made  shift 
to  get  home,  (but  died  within  a  few  days  after)  by 
which  means  they  were  discovered  ;  and  by  subtlety 
the  Indians  took  them.  For  they  desiring  a  canoe  to 
set  them  over  a  water,  (not  thinking  their  fact  had 
been  known)  by. the  sachem's  command  they  were 
carried  to  Aquidnett  Island  and  there  accused  of  the 
murder,  and  were  examined  and  committed  upon  it 
by  the  English  there.  The  Indians  sent  for  Mr. 
Williams,  and  made  a  grievous  complaint;  his  friends 
and  kindred  were  ready  to  rise  in  arms,  and  provoke  the 
rest  thereunto,  some  conceiving  they  should  now  find 
the  Pequents'  words  true  :  that  the  English  would  fall 
upon  them.  But  Mr.  Williams  pacified  them  and 
told  them  they  should  see  justice  done  upon  the 
offenders:  and  went  to  the  man  and  took  Mr.  James, 
a  physician,  with  him.      The  man  told  him  who  did  it, 


62  WILLIAM    BRADFORD. 

and  in  what  manner  it  was  done;  but  the  physician 
found  his  wounds  mortal,  and  that  he  could  not  live, 
(as  he  after  testified  upon  oath,  before  the  jury  in 
open  court)  and  so  he  died  shortly  after,  as  both  Mr. 
Williams,  Mr.  James,  and  some  Indians  testified  in 
court.  The  Government  in  the  Bay  were  acquainted 
with  it,  but  referred  it  hither,  because  it  was  done  in 
this  jurisdiction; l  but  pressed  by  all  means  that  justice 
might  be  done  in  it,  or  else  the  country  must  rise  and 
see  justice  done,  otherwise  it  would  raise  a  war.  Yet 
some  of  the  rude  and  ignorant  sort  murmured  that  any 
English  should  be  pat  to  death  for  the  Indians.  So 
at  last  they  of  the  Island  brought  them  hither,  and 
being  often  examined  and  the  evidence  produced,  they 
all  in  the  end  freely  confessed  in  effect  all  that  the 
Indian  accused  them  of,  and  that  they  had  done  it 
in  the  manner  aforesaid;  and  so  upon  the  foremen- 
tioned  evidence,  were  cast  by  the  jury,  and  con- 
demned, and  executed  for  the  same.  And  some  of 
the  Naragansett  Indians  and  of  the  parties'  friends, 
were  present  when  it  was  done,  which  gave  them 
and  all  the  country  good  satisfaction.  But  it  was  a 
matter  of  much  sadness  to  them  here,  and  was  the 
second  execution  which  they  had  since  they  came  ; 
being  both  for  wilful  murder,  as  hath  been  before 
related.      Thus  much  of  this  matter. 


1  And  yet  afterwards  they  laid  claim  to  those  parts  in  the  con- 
troversy about  Seacunck. 


RELATION      OR 

Journall  of  the  beginning  and  proceedings 

of  the  English  Plantation  settled  at  Plimoth  in  New 

England,  by  certaine  English  Aduenturers  both 

Merchants  and  others. 

With  their  difficult  passage,  their   safe  arrival,  their 

ioyfull  building  of,  and  comfortable  planting  them- 

selues  in  the  now  well  defended  Towne 

of  New  Plimoth. 

AS  ALSO  A   RELATION   OF   FOVRE 

seuerall  discoueries  since  made  by  some  of  the 
same  English  Planters  there  resident. 

I.  In  a  journey  to  Pvckanokick  the  habitation  of  the  Ind- 
ians greatest  King  Massasoyt :  as  also  their  message,  the 
answer  and  entertainment  they  had  of  him. 

II.  In  a  voyage  made  by  ten  of  them  to  the  Kingdome  of 
Nawset  to  seeke  a  boy  that  had  lost  himselfe  in  the  woods : 
with  such  accidents  as  befell  them  in  that  voyage. 

III.  In  their  journey  to  the  Kingdome  of  Namaschet,  in 
defence  of  their  greatest  King  Massasoyt,  against  the  Narro- 
higgonsets,  and  to  reuenge  the  supposed  death  of  their  Inter- 
preter Tisquantum. 

II II.  Their  voyage  to  the  Massachusets,  and  their  enter- 
tainment there. 

With  an  answer  to  all  such  objections  as  are  in  any  way 

made  against  the  lawfulnesse  of  English 

plantations  in  those  parts. 


LONDON 

Printed  for  Iohn  Bellamie,  and  are  to  be  sold  at  his  shop  at  the 

two  Greyhounds  in  Cornhill  neere  the  Royall  Exchange.     1622. 

63 


MOURT'S    RELATION.1 

EBULLIENT  YOUTH    ON    THE 
-MAYFLOWER." 

The  fifth  day  [Dec.  5,  1620]  we  through  God's 
mercy  escaped  a  great  danger  by  the  foolishness  of  a 
boy,  one  of  Francis  Billington's  sons,  who  in  his  fa- 
ther's absence  had  got  gunpowder  and  had  shot  off  a 
piece  or  two  and  made  squibs,  and  there  being  a  fowl- 
ing piece  charged  in  his  father's  cabin  shot  her  off  in 
the  cabin,  there  being  a  little  barrel  of  powder  half- 
full  scattered  in  and  about  the  cabin,  the  fire  being 
within  four  foot  of  the  bed  between  the  decks,  and 
many  flints  and  iron  things  about  the  cabin,  and  many 
people  about  the  fire,  and  yet,  by  God's  mercy,  no 
harm  done. 


EXPLORING    CAPE    COD    NEAR    TRURO 
•  AND    WELLFLEET. 

Wednesday,  the  6th  of  December,  we  set  out,  being 
very  cold  and  hard  weather.  We  were  a  long  while 
after  we  launched  from  the  ship  before  we  could  get 
clear  of  a  sandy  point   which  lay  within   less   than  a 

1  The  title-page  given  on  page  63  is  not  a  complete  facsimile, 
but  gives  a  good  idea  of  the  original. 

65 


66  MOURT'S   RELATION. 

furlong  of  the  same.  In  which  time  two  were  very 
sick,  and  Edward  Tilley  had  like  to  have  sounded 
[swooned]  with  cold  ;  the  gunner  was  also  sick  unto 
death, (but  hope  of  tru[c]king  made  him  to  go)  and 
so  remained  all  that  day  and  the  next  night  ;  at  length 
we  got  clear  of  the  sandy  point  and  got  up  our  sails, 
and  within  an  hour  or  two  we  got  under  the  weather 
shore,  and  then  had  smoother  water  and  better  sail- 
ing, but  it  was  very  cold,  for  the  water  froze  on  our 
clothes,  and  made  them  many  times  like  coats  of 
iron.    .    .    . 

.  .  .  We  then  directed  our  course  along  the  sea 
sands,  to  the  place  where  we  first  saw  the  Indians  ; 
when  we  were  there,  we  saw  it  was  also  a  grampus 
which  they  were  cutting  up  ;  they  cut  it  into  long 
rands  or  pieces,  about  an  ell  long  and  two  handful 
broad  ;  we  found  here  and  there  a  piece  scattered  by 
the  way,  as  it  seemed,  for  haste.  This  place  the 
most  were  minded  we  should  call  the  Grampus  Bay 
because  we  found  so  many  of  them  there.  We  fol- 
lowed the  tract  of  the  Indians'  bare  feet  a  good  way 
on  the  sands.  At  length  we  saw  where  they  struck 
into  the  woods  by  the  side  of  a  pond.  As  we  went 
to  view  the  place,  one  said  he  thought  he  saw  an 
Indian  house  among  the  trees,  so  went  up  to  see. 
...  So  we  lit  on  a  path  but  saw  no  house  and  fol- 
lowed a  great  way  into  the  woods.  At  length  we 
found  where  corn  had  been  set  but  not  that  year. 
Anon  we  found  a  great  burying  place  one  part  whereof 
was  encompassed  with  a  great  palisado  like  a  church- 
yard. .  .  .  Those  graves  were  more  sumptuous 
than  those  at  Cornhill,  yet  we  digged  none  of  them 
up,  but  only  viewed  them  and  went  our  way. 


THE   LANDING   AT    PLYMOUTH.         67 


THE    LANDING    AT    PLYMOUTH. 

That  night  we  returned  again  ashipboard  with 
resolution  the  next  morning  to  settle  on  some  of  those 
places.  So,  in  the  morning,  after  we  had  called  on 
God  for  direction,  we  came  to  this  resolution,  to  go 
presently  ashore  again,  and  to  take  a  better  view  of 
two  places  which  we  thought  most  fitting  for  us  ;  for 
we  could  not  now  take  time  for  further  search  or  con- 
sideration, our  victuals  being  much  spent,  especially  our 
beer,  and  it  being  now  the  19th  [new  style  29th] 
of  December.  After  our  landing  and  viewing  of  the 
places  so  well  as  we  could,  we  came  to  a  conclusion 
by  most  voices  to  set  on  the  mainland,  on  the  first 
place,  on  an  high  ground  where  there  is  a  great  deal  of 
land  cleared  and  hath  been  planted  with  corn  three  or 
four  years  ago,  and  there  is  a  very  sweet  brook  runs 
under  the  hillside  and  many  delicate  springs  of  as  good 
water  as  can  be  drunk,  and  where  we  may  harbor  our 
shallops  and  boats  exceeding  well,  and  in  this  brook 
much  good  fish  in  their  season.  On  the  further  side 
of  the  river  also  much  cornground  cleared.  In  one 
field  is  a  great  hill  [i.e.  Burial  Hill]  on  which  we 
point  to  make  a  platform  and  plant  our  ordnance 
which  will  command  all  round  about  ;  from  thence  we 
may  see  into  the  bay  and  far  into  the  sea,  and  we  may 
see  thence  Cape  Cod.  Our  greatest  labor  will  be 
fetching  of  our  wood,  which  is  half  a  quarter  of  an 
English  mile,  but  there  is  enough  so  far  off.  What 
people  inhabit  here  we  yet  know  not,  for  as  yet  we 
have  seen  none.    .    .    . 

Monday,  the  25th,  being  Christmas  Day  [new 
style,  Jan.  4th]  we  began  to  drink  water  aboard,  but 


68  MOURT'S    RELATION. 

at  night  the  master  caused  us  to  have  some  beer,  and 
so  on  board  we  had  divers  times  now  and  then  some 
beer,  but  on  shore  none  at  all.    .    .    . 

Thursday  the  28th  of  December  [new  style,  Jan. 
7th]  ...  in  the  afternoon  we  went  to  measure  out 
the  ground,  and  first  we  took  notice  how  many  families 
they  were,  willing  all  single  men  that  had  no  wives 
to  join  with  some  family  as  they  thought  fit,  that  so 
we  might  build  fewer  houses  ;  which  was  done  and 
we  reduced  them  to  nineteen  families.  To  greater 
families  we  allotted  larger  plots  ;  to  every  person  half  a 
pole  in  breadth  and  three  in  length,  and  so  lots  were 
cast  where  every  man  should  lie  ;  which  was  done  and 
staked  out.  We  thought  this  proportion  was  large 
enough  at  the  first,  for  houses  and  gardens  to  impale 
them  round,  considering  the  weakness  of  our  people, 
many  of  them  growing  ill  with  colds,  for  our  former 
discoveries  in  frost  and  storms  and  the  wading  at  Cape 
Cod  had  brought  much  weakness  amongst  us.    .    .    . 

ABORIGINAL   AMENITIES. 

Thursday  the  22nd  of  March  [new  style  April 
1st].  .  .  .  Samoset  came  again  and  Squanto,  the 
only  native  of  Patuxat  where  we  now  inhabit,  who 
was  one  of  the  twenty  captives  that  by  Hunt  were 
carried  away  and  had  been  in  England  and  dwelt  in 
Cornhill  with  Master  John  Slanie,  a  merchant,  and 
could  speak  a  little  English,  with  three  others  ;  and  they 
brought  with  them  some  few  skins  to  truck  and  some 
red  herrings  newly  taken  and  dried  but  not  salted,  and 
signified  unto  us  that  their  great  Sagamore,  Massasoit, 
was  hard  by  with  Quadequina,  his  brother,  and  all  their 


ABORIGINAL    AMENITIES.  69 

men.  They  could  not  well  express  in  English  what 
they  would,  but  after  an  hour  the  King  came  to  the 
top  of  an  hill  over  against  us,  and  had  in  his  train  sixty 
men,  that  we  could  well  behold  them  and  they  us. 
We  were  not  willing  to  send  our  Governor  to  them 
and  they  unwilling  to  come  to  us  ;  so  Squanto  went 
again  unto  him,  who  brought  word  that  we  should 
send  one  to  parley  with  him,  which  we  did,  which 
was  Edward  Winslow,  to  know  his  mind  and  to  sig- 
nify the  mind  and  the  will  of  our  Governor,  which 
was  to  have  trading  and  peace  with  them.  We  sent 
to  the  King  a  pair  of  knives  and  a  copper  chain  with 
a  jewel  at  it.  To  Quadequina  we  sent  likewise  a 
knife  and  a  jewel  to  hang  in  his  ear,  and  withal  a  pot 
of  strong  water,  a  good  quantity  of  biscuit  and  some 
butter,  which  were  all  willingly  accepted. 


THOMAS    MORTON. 

Thomas  Morton,  one  of  the  most  interesting, 
though  hardly  edifying,  personages  in  New  England 
history,  was  born  in  England  about  1575  and  died 
at  Agamenticus,  Maine,  1646.  He  was  a  lawyer  of 
Clifford's  Inn,  London,  and  thirty-seven  years  old, 
when  in  1622  he  sought  his  fortune  in  New  England, 
with  a  party  of  emigrants,  who,  according  to  his  own 
account,  "  were  very  popular  while  their  liquor  lasted, 
but  were  afterwards  turned  adrift."  Many  of  them 
found  their  way  home,  among  them  Morton  ;  but  he 
returned  in  1625,  as  head  of  a  body  of  emigrants 
who  settled  at  Merry  Mount,  now  Braintree.  These 
settlers,  like  the  former  band  with  whom  Morton  was 
associated,  caused  scandal  to  the  Plymouth  colonists. 
They  even  set  up  a  may-pole,  and  sang  and  danced 
around  it.  They  fraternized  with  the  Indians  more 
than  the  other  settlers  did,  and  gave  them  guns  that 
they  might  hunt  more  effectively  for  them.  Morton 
was  therefore  arrested  and  sent  to  England,  and  the 
name  Merry  Mount  changed  to  Dagon.  He  re- 
turned, was  again  arrested  and  transported,  and  then 
published  hr>  satiric  account  of  the  Puritan  Colonists, 
The  New  English  Canaan,  by  no  means  so  lively 
as  the  career  of  its  author  might  lead  the  reader  to 
hope.  This  "  scandalous  book  "  caused  his  imprison- 
ment for  a  year  at  Boston,  on  his  fourth  visit  through 
Massachusetts.  On  his  release,  he  went  to  Maine, 
70 


THE    MAY-POLE   REVELS.  J  I 

where  he  soon  after  died.  Hawthorne's  story, 
The  May-pole  of  Merry  Mount,  has  given  a  liter- 
ary setting  to  the  incident  described  in  one  of  our 
extracts,  which  should  be  read  in  connection  with 
Bradford's  account  of  the  same  event.  The  best 
edition  of  the  New  English  Canaan  was  made  by 
Charles  Francis  Adams  for  the  Prince  Society  in  1883. 


THE     MAY-POLE     REVELS     AT     MERRY 
MOUNT. 

TFrom    "  New    English    Canaan"    (Amsterdam, 
1637),  Book  III.    Chap.    XIV.] 

The  inhabitants  of  Pasonagessit  (having  translated 
the  name  o(  their  inhabitation  from  that  ancient  sav- 
age name  to  Ma-re  Mount;  and  being  resolved  to 
have  the  new  name  confirmed  for  a  memorial  to  after 
ages)  did  devise  amongst  themselves  to  have  it  per- 
formed in  a  solemn  manner  with  revels  and  merriment 
after  the  old  English  custom,  prepared  to  set  up  a 
May-pole  upon  the  festival  day  of  Philip  and  Jacob; 
and  therefore  brewed  a  barrel  of  excellent  beer,  and 
provided  a  case  of  bottles  to  be  spent,  with  other  good 
cheer,  for  all  comers  of  that  day.  And  because  they 
would  have  it  in  a  complete  form,  they  had  prepared 
a  song  fitting  to  the  time  and  present  occasion.  And 
upon  May-day  they  brought  the  May-pole  to  the 
place  appointed,  with  drums,  guns,  pistols,  and  other 
fitting  instruments,  for  that  purpose;  and  there  erected 
it  with  the  help  of  savages,  that  came  thither  of  pur- 
pose to  see  the  manner  of  our  revels.      A  goodly  pine 


72  THOMAS   MORTON. 

tree  of  eighty  foot  long,  was  reared  up,  with  a  pair 
of  buck's  horns  nailed  on,  somewhat  near  unto  the 
top  of  it:  where  it  stood  as  a  fair  sea-mark  for  direc- 
tions how  to  find  out  the  way  to  mine  Host  of  Ma-re 
Mount.    .   .    . 

The  setting  up  of  this  May-pole  was  a  lamentable 
spectacle  to  the  precise  Separatists  that  lived  at  New 
Plymouth.  They  termed  it  an  idol;  yea,  they  called 
it  the  Calf  of  Horeb:  and  stood  at  defiance  with  the 
place,  naming  it  Mount  Dagon;  threatening  to  make 
it  a  woful  mount,  and  not  a  merry  mount.    .    .    . 

There  was  likewise  a  merry  song  made,  which  (to 
make  their  revels  more  fashionable)  was  sung  with  a 
chorus,  every  man  bearing  his  part;  which  they  per- 
formed in  a  dance,  hand  in  hand  about  the  May-pole, 
whilst  one  of  the  company  sung,  and  filled  out  the 
good  liquor  like  Gammedes  and  Jupiter. 

THE    SONG. 

Drink  and  be  merry,  merry,  merry,  boys  ; 
Let  all  your  delight  be  in  Hymen's  joys  ; 
Io  to  Hymen  now  the  day  is  come, 
About  the  merry  May-pole  take  a  room. 

Make  green  garlons,  bring  bottles  out; 

And  fill  sweet  Nectar,  freely  about. 

Uncover  thy  head,  and  fear  no  harm, 

For  here's  good  liquor  to  keep  it  warm. 
Then  drink  and  be  merry,  etc. 
Io  to  Hymen,  etc. 

Nectar  is  a  thing  assign' d, 

By  the  Deity's  own  mind, 

To  cure  the  heart  opprest  with  grief, 

And  of  good  liquors  is  the  chief. 

Then  drink,  etc. 

Io  to  Hymen,  etc. 


SHRIMP   CAPTURES   MINE    HOST.       73 

Give  to  the  melancholy  man 
A  cup  or  two  of  't  now  and  then  ; 
This  physic  will  soon  revive  his  blood, 
And  make  him  be  of  a  merrier  mood. 

Then  drink,  etc. 

Io  to  Hymen,  etc. 

Give  to  the  nymph  that's  free  from  scorn, 
No  Irish  stuff  nor  Scotch  overworn. 
Lasses  in  beaver  coats,  come  away  ; 
Ye  shall  be  welcome  to  us  night  and  day 

To  drink  and  be  merry,  etc. 

Io  to  Hymen,  etc. 

This  harmless  mirth  made  by  young  men  (that  lived 
in  hope  to  have  wives  brought  over  to  them,  that 
would  save  them  a  labor  to  make  a  voyage  to  fetch 
any  over)  was  much  distasted  of  the  precise  Separa- 
tists that  kept  much  ado,  about  the  tithe  of  mint  and 
cumin,  troubling  their  brains  more  than  reason  would 
require  about  things  that  are  indifferent  :  and  from 
that  time  sought  occasion  against  my  honest  Host  of 
Ma-re  Mount  to  overthrow  his  undertakings,  and  to 
destroy  his  plantation  quite  and  clean. 


CAPTAIN  SHRIMP  (MYLES  STANDISH) 
CAPTURES    MINE    HOST    (MORTON). 

[From   the    Same,    Book    III.    Chap.    XV.] 

Of  a  Great  Monster  supposed  to  be  at  Ma-re 
Mount  ;  and  the  Preparation  made  to  destroy 
It. 

The  Separatists  envying  the  prosperity  and  hope  of 
the  plantation  at  Ma-re  Mount  (which  they  per- 
ceived began  to  come  forward,  and  to  be  in  a  good 


74  THOMAS    MORTON. 

way  for  gain  in  the  beaver  trade),  conspired  together 
against  mine  Host  especially,  (who  was  the  owner  of 
that  plantation)  and  made  up  a  party  against  him  ; 
and  mustered  up  what  aid  they  could  ;  accounting  of 
him  as  of  a  great  monster. 

Many  threatening  speeches  were  given  out  both 
against  his  person,  and  his  habitation,  which  they  di- 
vulged should  be  consumed  with  fire.  And  taking 
advantage  of  the  time  when  his  company  (which 
seemed  little  to  regard  their  threats)  were  gone  up 
into  the  inlands,  to  trade  with  the  savages  for  beaver, 
they  set  upon  my  honest  Host  at  a  place,  called  Wess- 
aguscus,  where  (by  accident)  they  found  him. 
The  inhabitants  there  were  in  good  hope  of  the  sub- 
version of  the  plantation  at  Ma-re  Mount  (which  they 
principally  aimed  at),  and  the  rather,  because  mine 
Host  was  a  man  that  endeavored  to  advance  the  dig- 
nity of  the  Church  of  England  ;  which  they,  on  the 
contrary  part,  would  labor  to  vilify  with  uncivil  terms, 
inveighing  against  the  sacred  book  of  common  prayer, 
and  mine  Host  that  used  it  in  a  laudable  manner 
amongst  his  family,  as  a  practice  of  piety. 

There  he  would  be  a  means  to  bring  sacks  to  their 
mill  (such  is  the  thirst  after  beaver),  and  helped  the 
conspirators  to  surprise  mine  Host  (who  was  there  all 
alone)  and  they  charged  him  (because  they  would  seem 
to  have  some  reasonable  cause  against  him  to  set  a 
gloss  upon  their  malice)  with  criminal  things,  which 
indeed  had  been  done  by  such  a  person,  but  was  of 
their  conspiracy.  Mine  Host  demanded  of  the  con- 
spirators who  it  was,  that  was  author  of  that  informa- 
tion, that  seemed  to  be  their  ground  for  what  they 
now  intended.       And    because    they   answered    they 


SHRIMP   CAPTURES    MINE    HOST.       75 

would  not  tell  him,  he  as  peremptorily  replied  that 
he  would  not  say  whether  he  had  or  he  had  not 
done  as  they  had  been  informed. 

The  answer  made  no  matter  (as  it  seemed)  whether 
it  had  been  negatively,  or  affirmatively  made.,  for  they 
had  resolved  what  he  should  suffer,  because  (as  they 
boasted, )  they  were  now  become  the  greater  number  : 
they  had  shaken  off  their  shackles  of  servitude,  and 
were  become  masters,  and  masterless  people. 

It  appears,  they  were  like  bears'  whelps  in  former 
time,  when  mine  Host's  plantation  was  of  as  much 
strength  as  theirs,  but  now  (theirs  being  stronger,) 
they  (like  overgrown  bears)  seemed  monstrous.  In 
brief,  mine  Host  must  endure  to  be  their  prisoner  until 
they  could  contrive  it  so  that  they  might  send  him 
for  England,  (as  they  said,)  there  to  suffer  according 
to  the  merit  of  the  fact,  which  they  intended  to  father 
upon  him  ;  supposing  (belike)  it  would  prove  a  heinous 
crime. 

Much  rejoicing  was  made  that  they  had  gotten 
their  capital  enemy  (as  they  concluded  him)  whom 
they  purposed  to  hamper  in  such  sort  that  he  should 
not  be  able  to  uphold  his  plantation  at  Ma-re  Mount. 

The  conspirators  sported  themselves  at  my  honest 
Host,  that  meant  them  no  hurt  ;  and  were  so  jocund 
that  they  feasted  their  bodies,  and  fell  to  tippling,  as 
if  they  had  obtained  a  great  prize  ;  like  the  Trojans 
when  they  had  the  custody  of  Hippeus'  pine-tree 
horse. 

Mine  Host  feigned  grief,  and  could  not  be  per- 
suaded either  to  eat  or  drink,  because  he  knew  empti- 
ness would  be  a  means  to  make  him  as  watchful  as 
the  geese  kept  in  the  Roman   capitol  :    whereon,    the 


j6  THOMAS    MORTON. 

contrary  part,  the  conspirators  would  be  so  drowsy, 
that  he  might  have  an  opportunity  to  give  them  a 
slip,  instead  of  a  tester.  Six  persons  of  the  con- 
spiracy were  set  to  watch  him  at  Wessaguscus.  But 
he  kept  waking ;  and  in  the  dead  of  night  (one 
lying  on  the  bed,  for  further  surety,)  up  gets  mine 
Host  and  got  to  the  second  door  that  he  was  to  pass, 
which,  notwithstanding  the  lock,  he  got  open  :  and 
shut  it  after  him  with  such  violence,  that  it  affrighted 
some  of  the  conspirators. 

The  word,  which  was  given  with  an  alarm,  was, 
"  Oh,  he's  gone,  he's  gone  !  What  shall  we  do? 
He's  gone  !"  The  rest  (half  asleep)  start  up  in  a 
maze,  and  like  rams,  ran  their  heads  one  at  another 
full  butt  in  the  dark. 

Their  grand  leader,  Captain  Shrimp,  took  on  most 
furiously,  and  tore  his  clothes  for  anger,  to  see  the 
empty  nest,  and  their  bird  gone. 

The  rest  were  eager  to  have  torn  their  hair  from 
their  heads,  but  it  was  so  short  that  it  would  give 
them  no  hold.  Now  Captain  Shrimp  thought  in  the 
loss  of  this  prize  (which  he  accounted  his  master- 
piece,) all  his  honor  would  be  lost  forever. 

In  the  meantime  mine  Host  was  got  home  to  Ma-re 
Mount  through  the  woods,  eight  miles,  round  about  the 
head  of  the  river  Monatoquit,  that  parted  the  two 
plantations,  rinding  his  way  by  the  help  of  the  light- 
ning (for  it  thundered,  as  he  went,  terribly).  And 
there  he  prepared  powder,  three  pounds  dried,  for  his 
present  employment,  and  four  good  guns  for  him,  and 
the  two  assistants  left  at  his  house,  with  bullets  of 
several  sizes,  three  hundred  or  thereabouts,  to  be 
used  if  the  conspirators   should  pursue  him  thither; 


SHRIMP   CAPTURES    MINE    HOST.      77 

and  these  two  persons  promised  their  aids  in  the 
quarrel,  and  confirmed  that  promise  with  a  health  in 
good  rosa  solis. 

Now  Captain  Shrimp,  the  first  captain  in  the  land, 
(as  he  supposed,)  must  do  some  new  act  to  repair 
this  loss,  and  to  vindicate  his  reputation,  who  had 
sustained  blemish,  by  this  oversight.  Begins  now  to 
study  how  to  repair  or  survive  his  honor  in  this  man- 
ner; calling  of  council:   they  conclude. 

He  takes  eight  persons  more  to  him,  and  (like  the 
nine  worthies  of  New  Canaan)  they  embark  with 
preparation  against  Ma-re  Mount,  where  this  mon- 
ster of  a  man,  as  their  phrase  was,  had  his  den;  the 
whole  number,  had  the  rest  not  been  from  home, 
being  but  seven,  would  have  given  Captain.  Shrimp, 
(a  quondam  drummer,)  such  a  welcome,  as  would 
have  made  him  wish  for  a  drum  as  big  as  Diogenes' 
tub,  that  he  might  have  crept  into  it  out  of  sight. 

Now  the  nine  worthies  are  approached;  and  mine 
Host  prepared,  having  intelligence  by  a  savage,  that 
hastened  in  love  from  Wessaguscus,  to.  give  him 
notice  of  their  intent. 

One  of  mine  Host's  men  proved  a  craven;  the 
other  had  proved  his  wits  to  purchase  a  little  valor, 
before  mine  Host  had  observed  his  posture.. 

The  nine  worthies  coming  before  the  den  of  this 
supposed  monster,  (this  seven-headed  hydra,  as  they 
termed  him)  and  began,  like  Don  Quixote  against 
the  windmill,  to  beat  a  parley,  and  to  offer  quarter 
if  mine  Host  would  yield  ;  for  they  resolved  to  send 
him  for  England,  and  bade  him  lay  by  his  arms. 

But  he  (who  was  the  son  of  a  soldier),  having 
taken  up  arms  in  his  just    defence,   replied  that  he 


78  THOMAS    MORTON. 

would  not  lay  by  those  arms,  because  they  were  so 
needful  at  sea,  if  he  should  be  sent  over.  Yet  to  save 
the  effusion  of  so  much  worthy  blood,  as  would  have 
issued  out  of  the  veins  of  these  nine  worthies  of  New 
Canaan,  if  mine  Host  should  have  played  upon  them 
out  at  his  port-holes  (for  they  came  within  danger 
like  a  flock  of  wild  geese,  as  if  they  had  been  tailed 
one  to  another,  as  colts  to  be  sold  at  a  fair)  mine 
Host  was  content  to  yield  upon  a  quarter;  and  did 
capitulate  with  them  in  what  manner  it  should  be 
for  more  certainty,  because  he  knew  what  Captain 
Shrimp  was. 

He  expressed  that  no  violence  should  be  offered 
to  his  person,  none  to  his  goods,  nor  any  of  his  house- 
hold: but  that  he  should  have  his  arms,  and  what  else 
was  requisite  for  the  voyage  :  which  their  herald  re- 
turns, it  was  agreed  upon,  and  should  be  performed. 

But  mine  Host  no  sooner  had  set  open  the  door 
and  issued  out,  but  instantly  Captain  Shrimp  and  the 
rest  of  the  worthies  stepped  to  him,  laid  hold  of  his 
arms  and  had  him  down;  and  so  eagerly  was  every 
man  bent  against  him  (not  regarding  any  agreement 
made  with  such  a  carnal  man,)  that  they  fell  upon 
him  as  if  they  would  have  eaten  him.  Some  of  them 
were  so  violent  that  they  would  have  a  slice  with 
scabbard,  and  all  for  haste,  until  an  old  soldier  (of  the 
Queen's,  as  the  proverb  is)  that  was  there  by  acci- 
dent, clapped  his  gun  under  the  weapons,  and  sharply 
rebuked  these  worthies  for  their  unworthy  practices. 
So  the  matter  was  taken  into  more  deliberate  consid- 
eration. 

Captain  Shrimp  and  the  rest  of  the  nine  worthies 
made  themselves  by  this   outrageous  riot   masters  of 


MORTON'S   FATE.  79 

mine  Host  of  Ma-re  Mount,  and  disposed  of  what  he 
had  at  his  plantation. 

This  they  knew  (in  the  eye  of  the  savages)  would 
add  to  their  glory;  and  diminish  the  reputation  of 
mine  honest  Host,  whom  they  practised  to  be  rid  of, 
upon  any  terms,  as  willingly  as  if  it  had  been  the 
very  hydra  of  time  : l 


MORTON'S    FATE. 
[From  the  Same,   Book  III.,   Chap.   XVI.] 

A  conclusion  was  made  and  sentence  given  that 
mine  Host  should  be  sent  to  England  a  prisoner. 
But  when  he  was  brought  to  the  ships  for  that  pur- 
pose, no  man  durst  be  so  foolhardy  as  to  undertake 
carry  him  [an  error  of  statement] .  So  these  worthies 
set  mine  Host  upon  an  island,  without  gun,  powder, 
or  shot  or  dog  or  so  much  as  a  knife  to  get  any  thing 
to  feed  upon,  or  any  other  clothes  to  shelter  him  with 
at  winter  than  a  thin  suit  which  he  had  on  at  that 
time.  Hence  he  could  not  get  to  Ma-re  Mount. 
Upon  this  island  he  stayed  a  month  at  least,  and  was 
relieved  by  savages  that  took  notice  that  mine  Host 
was  a  Sachem  of  Passonagessit,  and  would  bring  bot- 
tles of  strong  liquor  to  him,  and  unite  themselves  into 
a  league  of  brotherhood  with  mine  Host ;  so  full  of 
humanity  are  these  infidels  before  those  Christians. 

From  this  place  for  England  sailed  mine  Host 
in  a  Plymouth  ship.    .    .   . 

1  The  entire  chapter  is  given  in  this  selection. 


FRANCIS    HIGGINSON. 

Francis  Higginson,  the  founder  of  that  distinguished 
New  England  family,  was  born  in  England  in  1588, 
and  died  in  Salem,  Massachusetts,  in  1630.  Like 
most  of  the  New  England  divines  of  his  generation  he 
was  a  graduate  of  Cambridge  University,  and  had  been 
an  Anglican  clergyman  before  his  emigration.  Becom- 
ing a  Puritan,  he  gave  up  his  benefice,  and  sup- 
ported himself  by  preparing  men  for  college,  till  in  1628 
he  accepted  an  invitation  from  the  Massachusetts  Bay 
Company,  to  join  their  colony.  He  reached  Salem 
in  the  next  year,  and  was  almost  immediately  chosen 
teacher  of  the  congregation  there.  The  next  year 
he  sickened  and  died,  an  ironical  commentary  on  the 
somewhat  extravagant  praise  of  the  New  England 
climate,  that  appears  in  his  New  England's  Planta- 
tion, or  a  short  and  true  description  of  the  Commodities 
of  that  Country,  published  in  1630,  and  reprinted 
in  the  first  volume  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society's  Collection.  Our  extracts  are  from  this 
work.  Higginson  wrote  also  an  account  of  his  voy- 
age, afterwards  printed  in  Hutchinson's  Original 
Papers  (1769).  A  Life  of  Francis  Higginson  has 
been  written  by  his  eminent  descendant,  Thomas 
Went  worth  Higginson  (1891). 
80 


FIRST  THEREFORE  OF  THE  EARTH."     8 


«  FIRST  THEREFORE  OF  THE  EARTH 
OF  NEW  ENGLAND,  AND  ALL  THE 
APPURTENANCES    THEREOF." 

[From  "  New  England's  Plantation,"   1630.] 

...  I  will  endeavor  to  show  you  what  New 
England  is  .  .  .  and  truly  endeavor,  by  God's 
help,  to  report  nothing  but  the  naked  truth,  and  that 
both  to  tell  you  of  the  discommodities  as  well  as  of 
the  commodities.  Though,  as  the  idle  proverb  is, 
"Travelers  may  lie  by  authority,"  and  so  may  take 
too  much  sinful  liberty  that  way,  yet  I  may  say  of 
myself,  as  once  Nehemiah  did  in  another  case,  "  Shall 
such  a  man  as  I  lie  ?  "  No.  verily.  It  becometh 
not  a  preacher  of  truth  to  be  a  writer  of  falsehood 
in  any  degree  ;  and  therefore  I  have  been  careful  to 
report  nothing  of  New-England  but  what  I  have 
partly  seen  with  mine  own  eyes,  and  partly  heard 
and  inquired  from  the  mouths  of  very  honest  and 
religious  persons,  who  by  living  in  the  country  a  good 
space  of  time  have  had  experience  and  knowledge 
of  the  state  thereof,  and  whose  testimonies  I  do 
believe  as  myself. 

The  fertility  of  the  soil  is  to  be  admired  at,  as 
appeareth  in  the  abundance  of  grass  that  groweth 
every  where,  both  very  thick,  very  long,  and  very 
high  in  divers  places.  But  it  groweth  very  wildly, 
with  a  great  stalk,  and  a  broad  and  ranker  blade,  be- 
cause it  never  had  been  eaten  with  cattle,  nor  mowed 
with  a  scythe,  and  seldom  trampled  on  by  foot.  It 
is  scarce  to  be  believed  how  our  kine  and  goats,  horses 


82  FRANCIS   HIGGINSON. 

and  hogs  do  thrive  and  prosper  here,  and  like  well  of 
this  country. 

In  our  Plantation  we  have  already  a  quart  of  milk 
for  a  penny.  But  the  abundant  increase  of  corn 
proves  this  country  to  be  a  wonderment.  Thirty, 
forty,  fifty,  sixty,  are  ordinary  here.  Yea,  Joseph's 
increase  in  Egypt  is  outstripped  here  with  us.  Our 
planters  hope  to  have  more  than  a  hundred-fold  this 
year.  And  all  this  while  I  am  within  compass  ;  what 
will  you  say  of  two  hundred-fold,  and  upwards  ?  It 
is  almost  incredible  what  great  gain  some  of  our  Eng- 
lish planters  have  had  by  our  Indian  corn.  Credible 
persons  have  assured  me,  and  the  party  himself 
avouched  the  truth  of  it  to  me,  that  of  the  setting  of 
thirteen  gallons  of  corn  he  hath  had  increase  of  it  fifty- 
two  hogsheads,  every  hogshead  holding  seven  bushels  of 
London  measure,  and  every  bushel  was  by  him  sold  and 
trusted  to  the  Indians  for  so  much  beaver  as  was  worth 
eighteen  shillings  ;  and  so  of  this  thirteen  gallons  of  corn, 
which  was  worth  six  shillings  eight  pence,  he  made 
about  ^327  of  it  the  year  following,  as  by  reckon- 
ing will  appear  ;  where  you  may  see  how  God 
blesseth  husbandry  in  this  land.  There  is  not  such 
great  and  plentiful  ears  of  corn  I  suppose  anywhere 
else  to  be  found  but  in  this  country,  being  also  of 
variety  of  colors,  as  red,  blue,  and  yellow,  &c.  ;  and 
of  one  corn  there  springeth  four  or  five  hundred.  I 
have  sent  you  many  ears  of  divers  colors,  that  you 
might  see  the  truth  of  it. 

Little  children  here,  by  setting  of  corn,  may  earn 
much  more  than  their  own  maintenance. 

They  have  tried  our  English  corn  at  New  Plymouth 
Plantation,  so  that   all   our   several   grains   will    grow 


"FIRST  THEREFORE  OF  THE  EARTH."     83 

here  very  well,  and  have  a  fitting  soil  for  their 
nature. 

Our  Governor  hath  store  of  green  pease  growing 
in  his  garden  as  good  as  ever  I  eat  in  England. 

This  country  aboundeth  naturally  with  store  of 
roots  of  great  variety  and  good  to  eat.  Our  turnips, 
parsnips  and  carrots  are  here  both  bigger  and  sweeter 
than  is  ordinarily  to  be  found  in  England.  Here  are 
also  store  of  pumpions,  cowcumbers,  and  other  things 
of  that  nature  which  I  know  not.  Also,  divers 
excellent  pot-herbs  grow  abundantly  among  the  grass, 
as  strawberry  leaves  in  all  places  of  the  country,  and 
plenty  of  strawberries  in  their  time,  and  penny-royal, 
winter-savory,  sorrel,  brooklime,  liverwort,  carvel, 
and  watercresses  ;  also  leeks  and  onions  are  ordinary, 
and  divers  physical  herbs.  Here  are  also  abundance 
of  other  sweet  herbs,  delightful  to  the  smell,  whose 
names  we  know  not,  and  plenty  of  single  damask 
roses,  very  sweet  ;  and  two  kinds  of  herbs  that  bear 
two  kinds  of  flowers  very  sweet,  which  they  say  are 
as  good  to  make  cordage  or  cloth  as  any  hemp  or  flax 
we  have. 

Excellent  vines  are  here  up  and  down  in  the  woods. 
Our  Governor  hath  already  planted  a  vineyard,  with 
great  hope  of  increase. 

Also,  mulberries,  plums,  raspberries,  currants,  chest- 
nuts, filberts,  walnuts,  small-nuts,  hurtleberries,  and 
haws  of  white-thorn,  near  as  good  as  our  cherries  in 
England,  they  grow  in  plenty  here. 

For  wood,  there  is  no  better  in  the  world,  I  think, 
here  being  four  sorts  of  oak,  differing  both  in  the  leaf, 
timber,  and  color,  all  excellent  good.  There  is  also 
good  ash,  elm,  willow,  birch,  beech,  sassafras,  juniper, 


84  FRANCIS    HIGGINSON. 

cypress,  cedar,  spruce,  pines  and  fir,  that  will  yield 
abundance  of  turpentine,  pitch,  tar,  masts,  and  other 
material  for  building  both  of  ships  and  houses.  Also 
here  are  store  of  sumach  trees,  that  are  good  for  dye- 
ing and  tanning  of  leather  ;  likewise  such  trees  yield  a 
precious  gum,  called  white  benjamin,  that  they  say- 
is  excellent  for  perfumes.  Also  here  be  divers  roots 
and  berries,  wherewith  the  Indians  dye  excellent  hold- 
ing colors,  that  no  rain  nor  washing  can  alter.  Also 
we  have  materials  to  make  soap  ashes  and  saltpetre 
in  abundance. 

For  beasts  there  are  some  bears,  and  they  say  some 
lions  also;  for  they  have  been  seen  at  Cape  Anne.' 
Also  here  are  several  sorts  of  deer,  some  whereof  bring 
three  or  four  young  ones  at  once,  which  is  not  ordi- 
nary in  England  ;  also  wolves,  foxes,  beavers,  otters, 
martens,  great  wild  cats,  and  a  great  beast  called  a 
molke,  as  big  as  an  ox.  I  have  seen  the  skins  of  all 
these  beasts  since  I  came  to  this  Plantation,  excepting 
lions.  Also  here  are  great  store  of  squirrels,  some 
greater,  and  some  smaller  and  lesser  ;  there  are  some 
of  the  lesser  sort,  they  tell  me,  that  by  a  certain  skin 
will  fly  from  tree  to  tree,  though  they  stand  far  dis- 
tant. 

"  Of  the  Waters  of  New   England,   with 
the  Things  belonging  to  the  Same." 

sj^  ilc  iti  ik  ik  ik  jic  "J^ 

The  abundance  of  sea-fish  are  almost  beyond 
believing  ;  and  sure  I  should  scarce  have  believed  it 
except  I  had  seen  it  with  mine  own  eyes.  I  saw 
great  store  of  whales,  and  grampuses,  and  such  abun- 


"OF   THE   AIR   OF    NEW    ENGLAND.''     85 

dance  of  mackerels  that  it  would  astonish  one  to 
behold  ;  likewise  codfish,  abundance  on  the  coast,  and 
in  their  season  are  plentifully  taken.  There  is  a  fish 
called  a  bass,  a  most  sweet  and  wholesome  fish  as 
ever  I  did  eat  ;  it  is  altogether  as  good  as  our  fresh 
salmon  ;  and  the  season  of  their  coming  was  begun 
when  we  came  first  to  New-England  in  June,  and  so 
continued  about  three  months'  space.  Of  this  fish 
our  fishers  take  many  hundreds  together,  which  I  have 
seen  lying  on  the  shore,  to  my  admiration.  Yea, 
their  nets  ordinarily  take  more  than  they  are  able  to 
haul  to  land,  and  for  want  of  boats  and  men  they  are 
constrained  to  let  a  many  go  after  they  have  taken 
them  ;  and  yet  sometimes  they  fill  two  boats  at  a  time 
with  them.  And  besides  bass,  we  take  plenty  of 
scate  and  thornback,  and  abundance  of  lobsters,  and 
the  least  boy  in  the  Plantation  may  both  catch  and 
eat  what  he  will  of  them.  For  my  own  part,  I  was 
soon  cloyed  with  them,  they  were  so  great,  and  fat, 
and  luscious.  I  have  seen  some  myself  that  have 
weighed  sixteen  pound  ;  but  others  have  had  divers 
times  so  great  lobsters  as  have  weighed  twenty-five 
pound,  as  they  assured  me.    .    .    . 


11  Of  the   Air   of   New   England,    with  the 
Temper   and   Creatures   in   It." 

The  temper  of  the  air  of  New-England  is  one 
special  thing  that  commends  this  place.  Experience 
doth  manifest  that  there  is  hardly  a  more  healthful 
place  to  be  found  in  the  world  that  agreeth  better  with 
our  English  bodies.      Many  that  have  been  weak  and 


86  FRANCIS   HIGGINSON. 

sickly  in  Old  England,  by  coming  hither  have  been 
thoroughly  healed,  and  grown  healthful  and  strong. 
For  here  is  an  extraordinary  clear  and  dry  air,  that  is 
of  a  most  healing  nature  to  all  such  as  are  of  a  cold, 
melancholy,  phlegmatic,  rheumatic  temper  of  body. 
None  can  more  truly  speak  hereof  by  their  own 
experience  than  myself.  My  friends  that  knew  me 
can  well  tell  how  very  sickly  I  have  been,  and  con- 
tinually in  physic,  being  much  troubled  with  a  tor- 
menting pain  through  an  extraordinary  weakness  of  my 
stomach,  and  abundance  of  melancholic  humors. 
But  since  I  came  hither  on  this  voyage,  I  thank  God 
I  have  had  perfect  health,  and  freed  from  pain  and 
vomiting,  having  a  stomach  to  digest  the  hardest  and 
coarsest  fare,  who  before  could  not  eat  finest  meat  ; 
and  whereas  my  stomach  could  only  digest  and  did 
require  such  drink  as  was  both  strong  and  stale,  now 
I  can  and  do  oftentimes  drink  New-England  water 
very  well.  And  I  that  have  not  gone  without  a  cap 
for  many  years  together,  neither  durst  leave  off  the 
same,  have  now  cast  away  my  cap,  and  do  wear  none 
at  all  in  the  day  time ;  and  whereas  beforetime  I 
clothed  myself  with  double  clothes  and  thick  waist- 
coats to  keep  me  warm,  even  in  the  summer  time,  I  do 
now  go  as  thin  clad  as  any,  only  wearing  a  light  stuff 
cassock  upon  my  shirt,  and  stuff  breeches  of  one  thick- 
ness without  linings.  Besides,  I  have  one  of  my  chil- 
dren, that  was  formerly  most  lamentably  handled  with 
sore  breaking  out  of  both  his  hands  and  feet  of  the 
king's  evil  ;  but  since  he  came  hither  he  is  very  well 
ever  he  was,  and  there  is  hope  of  perfect  recovery 
shortly,  even  by  the  very  wholesomeness  of  the  air, 
altering,  digesting,  and  drying  up  the  cold  and  crude 


DISCOMMODITIES.  87 

humors  of  the  body  ;  and  therefore  I  think  it  is  a 
wise  course  for  all  cold  complexions  to  come  to  take 
physic  in  New-England  ;  for  a  sup  of  New-England's 
air  is  better  than  a  whole  draught  of  Old  England's 
ale. 

DISCOMMODITIES. 

Thus  of  New  England's  Commodities. 

Now  I  will  tell  you  of  some  discommodities,  that  are 
here  to  be  found. 

First,  in  the  summer  season,  for  these  three  months, 
June,  July,  and  August,  we  are  troubled  much  with 
little  flies  called  mosquitoes,  being  the  same  they  are 
troubled  with  in  Lincolnshire  and  the  fens  ;  and  they 
are  nothing  but  gnats,  which,  except  they  be  smoked 
out  of  their  houses,  are  troublesome  in  the  night  sea- 
son. 

Secondly,  in  the  winter  season,  for  two  months' 
space,  the  earth  is  commonly  covered  with  snow, 
which  is  accompanied  with  sharp  biting  frosts,  some- 
thing more  sharp  than  is  in  Old  England,  and  there- 
fore are  forced  to  make  great  fires. 

Thirdly,  this  country  being  very  full  of  woods  and 
wildernesses,  doth  also  much  abound  with  snakes  and 
serpents,  of  strange  colors  and  huge  greatness.  Yea, 
there  are  some  serpents,  called  rattlesnakes,  that  have 
rattles  in  their  tails,  that  will  not  fly  from  a  man  as 
others  will,  but  will  fly  upon  him  and  sting  him  so 
mortally  that  he  will  die  within  a  quarter  of  an  hour 
after,  except  the  party  stinged  have  about  him  some  of 
the  root  of  an  herb  called  snake-weed  to  bite  on,  and 
then  he  shall  receive  no  harm.      But  yet  seldom  falls 


88  FRANCIS    HIGGINSON. 

it  out  that  any  hurt  is  done  by  these.  About  three 
years  since  an  Indian  was  stung  to  death  by  one  of 
them  ;  but  we  heard  of  none  since  that  time. 

Fourthly  and  lastly,  here  wants  as  yet  the  good  com- 
pany of  honest  Christians,  to  bring  with  them  horses, 
kine  and  sheep,  to  make  use  of  this  fruitful  land.  Great 
pity  it  is  to  see  so  much  good  ground  for  corn  and 
for  grass  as  any  is  under  the  heavens,  to  lie  altogether 
unoccupied,  when  so  many  honest  men  and  their 
families  in  Old  England,  through  the  populousness 
thereof,  do  make  very  hard  shift  to  live  one  by  the 
other. 

"  Of    the    Present    Condition    of    the    Planta- 
tion   AND    WHAT    IT    IS." 


There  are  in  all  of  us,  both  old  and  new  planters, 
about  three  hundred,  whereof  two  hundred  of  them 
are  settled  at  Nehumkek,  now  called  Salem,  and  the 
rest  have  planted  themselves  at  Masathulet's  Bay,  be- 
ginning to  build  a  town  there,  which  we  do  call 
Cherton,  or  Charles  town. 

We  that  are  settled  at  Salem  make  what  haste  we 
can  to  build  houses,  so  that  within  a  short  time  we 
shall  have  a  fair  town. 

We  have  great  ordnance  wherewith  we  doubt  not 
but  we  shall  fortify  ourselves  in  a  short  time  to  keep 
out  a  potent  adversary.  But  that  which  is  our  greatest 
comfort  and  means  of  defense  above  all  others,  is  that 
we  have  here  the  true  religion  and  holy  ordinances  of 
Almighty  God  taught  amongst  us.  Thanks  be  to 
God,  we  have  here  plenty  of  preaching,  and  diligent 


CONDITION    OF    THE    PLANTATION.       89 

catechising,  with  strict  and  careful  exercise,  and 
good  and  commendable  orders  to  bring  our  people 
into  a  Christian  conversation  with  whom  we  have  to 
do  withal.  And  thus  we  doubt  not  but  God  will  be 
with  us  ;  and  if  God  be  with  us,  who  can  be  against 
us  ? 

[The  end  of  the  tract.] 


JOHN  WINTHROP. 

John  Winthrop,  the  most  cultured  and  philosophic 
of  the  early  New  England  settlers,  was  born  of  wealthy 
and  scholarly  ancestry,  at  Edwardston,  England,  in 
1588,  and  died  at  Boston  in  1649.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  Cambridge,  and  proving  himself  exemplary 
for  grave  and  Christian  deportment,  was  made  a  Jus- 
tice of  the  Peace  in  the  year  that  he  reached  his  ma- 
jority. Repeated  domestic  bereavements  deepened  his 
naturally  serious  temperament,  but  he  resisted  an  in- 
clination to  the  ministry  and  gained  some  distinction 
in  law.  In  161 8  he  married  his  third  wife,  Mar- 
garet, daughter  of  Sir  John  Tyndall,  a  knight,  of  Great 
Maplestead  in  Essex,  who  shared  for  thirty  years  his 
arduous  and  eventful  life.  Their  letters  sufficiently 
attest  the  beautiful  sympathy  that  characterized  their 
domestic  life.  Eleven  years  later  he  took  part  in  the 
formation  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Company,  and 
the  next  year,  1630,  sailed  for  America  as  Governor 
of  the  Puritan  colonists  at  Salem,  Charlestown,  and 
Boston.  He  was  the  completest  representative  of  the 
Puritan  spirit.  With  the  exception  of  seven  years,  he 
governed  the  colony  till  his  death,  and  in  the  inter- 
vals of  administration  he  was  always  actively  engaged 
in  public  affairs.  The  colony  owed  much  to  his 
wisdom  and  courage.  Historians  feel  hardly  less  in- 
debted to  his  History  of  New  England  from  l6jO  to 
1649.  It  is  unpretentious,  simple,  personal,  not  with- 
90 


JOHN   WINTHROP.  9  I 

out  credulity  often,  not  without  a  touch  of  humor 
sometimes,  but  its  very  homeliness  adds  to  its  effective- 
ness. He  seems  to  bring  us  nearer  the  heart  of  colo- 
nial life,  nearer  the  reality  of  the  Puritan  religion  and 
conscience,  than  does  any  contemporary  writer.  To 
him  it  is  a  great  providence  when  Mr.  Glover's  house 
blew  up,  that  the  children  had  gone  out  to  play 
f*  though  it  was  a  very  cold  day."  It  will  be  a 
"  providence,"  too,  if  ungodly  men  left  upon  an  oyster 
bank  are  drowned  by  a  rising  tide,  though  they  might 
have  waded  out  had  they  known  the  way.  This  is 
characteristic  of  an  attitude  of  mind  much  bent  on 
justifying  the  ways  of  God  to  men,  but  when  Win- 
throp  turns  to  larger  horizons  he  is  dignified,  impartial, 
and  shows  a  philosophic  grasp  of  affairs  that  could 
come  only  from  a  noble  and  trained  mind  that  was 
capable  of  a  high  idealism.  Politically  he  was  a  con- 
servative. Universal  suffrage  and  unlimited  democ- 
racy did  not  appeal  to  him.  The  best  part  of  a 
community,  he  wrote,  was  always  the  least,  and  of 
that  best  part  the  wiser  part  was  always  the  lesser. 

The  book  from  which  most  of  our  extracts  are 
taken  had  a  curious  history,  which  suggests  the  even 
more  remarkable  fate  of  Bradford's  History.  It  too 
was  in  the  library  of  Old  South  Church  at  the  Revo- 
lution. Two  of  its  volumes  were  found  after  the  peace 
in  the  hands  of  the  Connecticut  Winthrops.  Noah 
Webster  edited  these  in  1790.  The  third  volume 
lay  undiscovered  in  the  church  until  1 8 1 6,  and  while 
a  new  edition  was  being  prepared,  the  second  volume 
was  burned.  Of  this,  therefore,  we  have  only  Web- 
ster's carelessly  executed  edition. 


92  JOHN    WINTHROP. 

A  PURITAN  ELECTION. 

[From  Winthrop's  "  History  of  New  England."  J 

[1637.  May  17.]  Our  court  of  elections  was 
at  Newtown.  So  soon  as  the  court  was  set,  being 
about  one  of  the  clock,  a  petition  was  preferred  by 
those  of  Boston.  The  governor  would  have  read  it, 
but  the  deputy  said  it  was  out  of  order  ;  it  was  a  court 
for  elections,  and  those  must  first  be  despatched,  and 
then  their  petitions  should  be  heard.  Divers  others 
also  opposed  that  course,  as  an  ill  precedent,  etc.  ; 
and  the  petition,  being  about  pretence  of  liberty,  etc., 
(though  intended  chiefly  for  revoking  the  sentence 
given  against  Mr.  Wheelwright,)  would  have  spent  all 
the  day  in  debate,  etc.  ;  but  yet  the  governor  and 
those  of  that  party  would  not  proceed  to  election,  ex- 
cept the  petition  was  read.  Much  time  was  already 
spent  about  this  debate,  and  the  people  crying  out 
for  election,  it  was  moved  by  the  deputy,  that  the 
people  should  divide  themselves,  and  the  greater  num- 
ber must  carry  it.  And  so  it  was  done,  and  the 
greater  number  by  many  were  for  election.  But  the 
governor  and  that  side  kept  their  place  still,  and  would 
not  proceed.  Whereupon  the  deputy  told  him,  that, 
if  he  would  not  go  to  election,  he  and  the  rest  of 
that  side  would  proceed.  Upon  that,  he  came  from 
his  company,  and  they  went  to  election  ;  and  Mr. 
Winthrop  was  chosen  governor,  Mr.  Dudley  deputy, 
and  Mr.  Endecott  of  the  standing  council  ;  and  Mr. 
Israel  Stoughton  and  Mr.  Richard  Saltonstall  were 
called  in  to  be  assistants  ;   and  Mr.  Vane,  Mr.  Cod- 


A   CRUEL   SCHOOL-MASTER   OF    1639.        93 

dington,  and  Mr.  Dummer,  (being  all  of  that  faction,) 
were  left  quite  out. 

There  was  great  danger  of  a  tumult  that  day .;  for 
those  of  that  side  grew  into  fierce  speeches,  and  some 
laid  hands  on  others  ;  but  seeing  themselves  too  weak, 
they  grew  quiet.  They  expected  a  great  advantage 
that  day,  because  the  remote  towns  were  allowed  to 
come  in  by  proxy  ;  but  it  fell  out,  that  there  were 
enough  beside.  But  if  it  had  been  otherwise,  they 
must  have  put  in  their  deputies,  as  other  towns  had 
done,  for  all  matters  beside  elections.  Boston,  hav- 
ing deferred  to  choose  deputies  till  the  election  was 
passed,  went  home  that  night,  and  the  next  morning 
they  sent  Mr.  Vane,  the  late  governor,  and  Mr. 
Coddington,  and  Mr.  Hoffe,  for  their  deputies  ;  but 
the  court,  being  grieved  at  it,  found  a  means  to  send 
them  home  again,  for  that  two  of  the  freemen  of  Bos- 
ton had  no  notice  of  the  election.  So  they  went  all 
home,  and  the  next  morning  they  returned  the  same 
gentlemen  again  upon  a  new  choice  ;  and  the  court 
not  finding  how  they  might  reject  them,  they  were 
admitted.    .    .    . 


A  CRUEL    SCHOOL-MASTER    OF    1639. 

[From  the  Same.] 

At  the  general  court  at  Boston,  one  Mr.  Nathaniel 
Eaton,  brother  to  the  merchant  at  Quilipiack,  was 
convented  and  censured.  The  occasion  was  this: 
He  was  a  school-master,  and  had  many  scholars,  the 
sons  of  gentlemen  and  others  of  best  note  in  the  coun- 


94  JOHN    WINTHROP. 

try,  and  had  entertained  one  Nathaniel  Briscoe,  a 
gentleman  born,  to  be  his  usher,  and  to  do  some 
other  things  for  him,  which  might  not  be  unfit  for  a 
scholar.  He  had  not  been  with  him  above  three 
days  but  he  fell  out  with  him  for  a  very  small  occasion, 
and,  with  reproachful  terms,  discharged  him,  and 
turned  him  out  of  his  doors;  but,  it  being  then  about 
eight  of  the  clock  after  the  Sabbath,  he  told  him  he 
should  stay  till  next  morning,  and,  some  words  grow- 
ing between  them,  he  struck  him  and  pulled  him  into 
his  house.  Briscoe  defended  himself,  and  closed  with 
him,  and,  being  parted,  he  came  in  and  went  up  to 
his  chamber  to  lodge  there.  Mr.  Eaton  sent  for  the 
constable,  who  advised  him  first  to  admonish  him, 
etc.,  and  if  he  could  not,  by  the  power  of  a  master, 
reform  him,  then  he  should  complain  to  the  magis- 
trate. But  he  caused  his  man  to  fetch  him  a  cudgel, 
which  was  a  walnut  tree  plant,  big  enough  to  have 
killed  a  horse,  and  a  yard  in  length,  and,  taking  his 
two  men  with  him,  he  went  up  to  Briscoe,  and 
caused  his  men  to  hold  him  till  he  had  given  him  two 
hundred  stripes  about  the  head  and  shoulders,  etc., 
and  so  kept  him  under  blows  (with  some  two  or 
three  short  intermissions)  about  the  space  of  two 
hours,  about  which  time  Mr.  Shepherd  and  some 
others  of  the  town  came  in  at  the  outcry,  and  so  he 
gave  over.  In  this  distress  Briscoe  gate  out  his 
knife,  and  struck  at  the  man  that  held  him,  but  hurt 
him  not.  He  also  fell  to  prayer  (supposing  he  should 
have  been  murdered),  and  then  Mr.  Eaton,  beat  him 
for  taking  the  name  of  God  in  vain. 

After    this   Mr.    Eaton  and   Mr.    Shepherd    (who 
knew  not  then  of  these  passages)   came  to  the  gov- 


A   CRUEL   SCHOOL-MASTER   OF    1639.        95 

ernor  and  some  other  of  the  magistrates,  complaining 
of  Briscoe  for  his  insolent  speeches,  and  for  crying 
out  murder  and  drawing  his  knife,  and  desired  that 
he  might  be  enjoined  to  a  public  acknowledgment, 
etc.  The  magistrates  answered,  that  they  must  first 
hear  him  speak,  and  then  they  would  do  as  they 
should  see  cause. 

Mr.  Eaton  was  displeased  at  this,  and  went  away 
discontented,  etc.,  and,  being  after  called  into  the 
court  to  make  answer  to  the  information,  which  had 
been  given  by  some  who  knew  the  truth  of  the  case, 
and  also  to  answer  for  his  neglect  and  cruelty,  and 
other  ill  usage  towards  his  scholars,  one  of  the  elders 
(not  suspecting  such  miscarriages  by  him)  came  to 
the  governor,  and  showed  himself  much  grieved,  that 
he  should  be  publicly  produced,  alleging,  that  it 
would  derogate  from  his  authority  and  reverence 
among  his  scholars,  etc.  But  the  cause  went  on  not- 
withstanding, and  he  was  called,  and  these  things 
laid  to  his  charge  in  the  open  court.  His  answers 
were  full  of  pride  and  disdain,  telling  the  magistrates, 
that  they  should  not  need  to  do  any  thing  herein,  for 
he  was  intended  to  leave  his  employment.  And 
being  asked,  why  he  used  such  cruelty  to  Briscoe  his 
usher,  and  to  other  his  scholars  (for  it  was  testified 
by  another  of  his  ushers  and  divers  of  his  scholars, 
that  he  would  give  them  between  twenty  and  thirty 
stripes  at  a  time,  and  would  not  leave  till  they  had 
confessed  what  he  required),  his  answer  was,  that  he 
had  this  rule,  that  he  would  not  give  over  correcting  till 
he  had  subdued  the  party  to  his  will. 

Being  also  questioned  about  the  ill  and  scant  diet 
of  his  boarders   (for,  though  their  friends  gave  large 


96  JOHN    WINTHROP. 

allowance,  yet  their  diet  was  ordinarily  nothing  but 
porridge  and  pudding,  and  that  very  homely),  he  put 
it  off  to  his  wife.  So  the  court  dismissed  him  at 
present,  and  commanded  him  to  attend  again  the  next 
day,  when,  being  called,  he  was  commanded  to  the 
lower  end  of  the  table  (where  all  offenders  do  usually 
stand),  and,  being  openly  convict  of  all  the  former 
offences,  by  the  oaths  of  four  or  five  witnesses,  he  yet 
continued  to  justify  himself;  so,  it  being  near  night, 
he  was  committed  to  the  marshal  till  the  next  day. 
When  the  court  was  set  in  the  morning,  many  of  the 
elders  came  into  the  court  (it  being  then  private  for 
matter  of  consultation,)  and  declared  how,  the  evening 
before,  they  had  taken  pains  with  him,  to  convince 
him  of  his  faults;  yet,  for  divers  hours,  he  had  still 
stood  to  his  justification;  but,  in  the  end,  he  was  con- 
vinced, and  had  freely  and  fully  acknowledged  his  sin, 
and  that  with  tears;  so  as  they  did  hope  he  had  truly 
repented,  and  therefore  desired  of  the  court  that  he 
might  be  pardoned,  and  continued  in  his  employment, 
alleging  such  further  reasons  as  they  thought  fit. 

After  the  elders  were  departed,  the  court  consulted 
about  it,  and  sent  for  him,  and  there,  in  the  open 
court,  before  a  great  assembly,  he  made  a  very  solid, 
wise,  eloquent,  and  serious  (seeming)  confession,  con- 
demning himself  in  all  the  particulars,  etc.  Where- 
upon, being  put  aside,  the  court  consulted  privately 
about  his  sentence,  and,  though  many  were  taken 
with  his  confession,  and  none  but  had  a  charitable 
opinion  of  it;  yet,  because  of  the  scandal  of  religion, 
and  offence  which  would  be  given  to  such  as  might 
intend  to  send  their  children  hither,  they  all  agreed  to 
censure  him,   and  put  him  from  that    employment. 


A   CRUEL   SCHOOL-MASTER   OF    1639.        97 

So,  being  called  in,  the  governor,  after  a  short  pref- 
ace, etc.,  declared  the  sentence  of  the  court  to  this 
effect,  viz.,  that  he  should  give  Briscoe  ^30,  be 
fined  100  marks,  and  debarred  teaching  of  children 
within  our  jurisdiction.  A  pause  being  made,  and 
expectation  that  (according  to  his  former  confession) 
he  would  have  given  glory  to  God,  and  acknowl- 
eged  the  justice  and  clemency  of  the  court,  the  gov- 
ernor giving  him  occasion,  by  asking  him  if  he  had 
aught  to  say,  he  turned  away  with  a  discontented 
look,  saying,  "  If  sentence  be  passed,  then  it  is  to  no 
end  to  speak."  Yet  the  court  remitted  his  fine  to 
^20,  and  willed  Briscoe  to  take  but  ^20. 

The  church  at  Cambridge,  taking  notice  of  these 
proceedings,  intended  to  deal  with  him.  The  pastor 
moved  the  governor,  if  they  might,  without  offence 
to  the  court,  examine  other  witnesses.  His  answer 
was,  that  the  court  would  leave  them  to  their  own 
liberty;  but  he  saw  not  to  what  end  they  should  do 
it,  seeing  there  had  been  five  already  upon  oath,  and 
those  whom  they  should  examine  should  speak  with- 
out oath,  and  it  was  an  ordinance  of  God,  that  by 
the  mouths  of  two  or  three  witnesses  every  matter 
should  be  established.  But  he  soon  discovered  him- 
self; for,  ere  the  church  could  come  to  deal  with 
him,  he  fled  to  Pascataquack,  and,  being  pursued  and 
apprehended  by  the  governor  there,  he  again  acknowl- 
edged his  great  sin  in  flying,  etc.,  and  promised  (as 
he  was  a  Christian  man)  he  would  return  with  the 
messengers.  But,  because  his  things  he  carried  with 
him  were  aboard  a  bark  there,  bound  to  Virginia,  he 
desired  leave  to  go  fetch  them,  which  they  assented 
unto,   and  went  with  him    (three  of  them)   aboard 


98  JOHN   WINTHROP. 

with  him.  So  he  took  his  truss  and  came  away  with 
them  in  the  boat;  but,  being  come  to  the  shore,  and 
two  of  them  going  out  of  the  boat,  he  caused  the 
boatmen  to  put  off  the  boat,  and  because  the  third 
man  would  not  go  out,  he  turned  him  into  the  water, 
where  he  had  been  drowned,  if  he  had  not  saved  him- 
self by  swimming.  So  he  returned  to  the  bark,  and 
presently  they  set  sail  and  went  out  of  the  harbor. 

Being  thus  gone,  his  creditors  began  to  complain  ; 
and  thereupon  it  was  found,  that  he  was  run  in  debt 
about  ^iooo,  and  had  taken  up  most  of  this  money 
upon  bills  he  had  charged  into  England  upon  his 
brother's  agents,  and  others  whom  he  had  no  such 
relation  to.  So  his  estate  was  seized,  and  put  into 
commissioners'  hands,  to  be  divided  among  his  cred- 
itors, allowing  somewhat  for  the  present  maintenance 
of  his  wife  and  children.  And,  being  thus  gone,  the 
church  proceeded  and  cast  him  out.  He  had  been 
sometimes  initiated  among  the  Jesuits,  and,  coming 
into  England,  his  friends  drew  him  from  them,  but, 
it  was  very  probable,  he  now  intended  to  return  to 
them  again,  being  at  this  time  about  thirty  years  of 
age,  and  upwards. 


1640.]  Mr.  Nathaniel  Eaton,  of  whom  mention 
is  made  before,  being  come  to  Virginia,  took  upon 
him  to  be  a  minister,  but  was  given  up  of  God  to 
extreme  pride  and  sensuality,  being  usually  drunken, 
as  the  custom  is  there.  He  sent  for  his  wife  and 
children.  Her  friends  here  persuaded  her  to  stay 
awhile,  but  she  went  notwithstanding,  and  the  vessel 
was  never  heard  of  after. 


ITEMS   FROM    WINTHROP'S    HISTORY.      99 


ITEMS   FROM    WINTHROP'S    HISTORY. 

1 63  1.  June  14.]  At  this  court  one  Philip  Ratcliff, 
a  servant  of  Mr.  Cradock,  being  convict,  ore  tenus,  of 
most  foul,  scandalous  invectives  against  our  churches 
and  government,  was  censured  to  be  whipped,  lose 
his  ears,  and  be  banished  from  the  plantation,  which 
was  presently  executed. 

1632.]  At  Watertown  there  was  (in  the  view  of 
divers  witnesses)  a  great  combat  between  a  mouse 
and  a  snake  ;  and  after  a  long  fight,  the  mouse  pre- 
vailed and  killed  the  snake.  The  pastor  of  Boston, 
Mr.  Wilson,  a  very  sincere,  holy  man,  hearing  of 
it,  gave  this  interpretation  :  That  the  snake  was  the 
devil  ;  the  mouse  was  a  poor  contemptible  people, 
which  God  had  brought  hither,  which  should  over- 
come Satan  here,  and  dispossess  him  of  his  Kingdom. 

1633.]  Two  little  girls  of  the  governor's  family 
were  sitting  under  a  great  heap  of  logs,  plucking  of 
birds,  and  the  wind  driving  the  feathers  into  the 
house,  the  governor's  wife  caused  them  to  remove 
away.  They  were  no  sooner  gone,  but  the  whole 
heap  of  logs  fell  down  in  the  place,  and  had  crushed 
them  to  death,  if  the  Lord,  in  his  special  providence, 
had  not  delivered  them. 

Aug.  6.]  Two  men  servants  to  one  Moody e,  of 
Roxbury,  returning  in  a  boat  from  the  windmill, 
struck  upon  the  oyster  bank.  They  went  out  to 
gather  oysters,  and  not  making  fast  their  boat,  when 
the  flood  came,  it  floated  away,  and  they  were  both 
drowned,  although  they  might  have  waded  out  on 
either  side  ;  but  it  was  an  evident  judgment  of  God 
upon  them,  for  they  were  wicked  persons.    .    .    . 


100  JOHN    WINTHROP. 

1634.]  One  Abigail  Gifford,  widow,  being  kept 
at  the  charge  of  the  parish  of  Wilsden  in  Middlesex, 
near  London,  was  sent  by  Mr.  Bull's  ship  into  this 
country,  and  being  found  to  be  sometimes  distracted, 
and  a  very  burdensome  woman,  the  governor  and 
assistants  returned  her  back  by  warrant,  18,  to  the 
same  parish,  in  the  ship  Rebecca. 

1639.]  There  happened  a  memorable  thing  at 
Plymouth  about  this  time.  One  Keysar,  of  Lynn, 
being  at  Plymouth  in  his  boat,  and  one  Dickerson 
with  him,  a  professor,  but  a  notorious  thief,  was  com- 
ing out  of  the  harbor  with  the  ebb,  and  the  wind 
southerly,  a  fresh  gale  ;  yet,  with  all  their  skill  and 
labor,  they  could  not  in  three  hours,  get  the  boat 
above  one  league,  so  as  they  were  forced  to  come 
to  an  anchor,  and,  at  the  flood,  to  go  back  to  the 
town,  and,  as  soon  as  they  were  come  in,  the  said 
Dickerson  was  arrested  upon  suspicion  of  a  gold  ring 
and  some  other  pieces  of  gold,  which,  upon  search, 
were  found  about  him,  and  he  was  then  whipped  for 
it,  .  .  .  These  and  many  other  examples  of  discov- 
ering hypocrites  and  other  lewd  persons,  and  bring- 
ing them  under  their  deserved  punishments,  do  (among 
other  things)  show  the  presence  of  power  of  God  in 
his  ordinances,  and  his  blessing  upon  his  people  while 
they  endeavor  to  walk  before  him  with  uprightness. 

1640.]  At  the  court  of  assistants,  one  Hugh 
Bewett  was  banished  for  holding  publicly  and  main- 
taining that  he  was  free  from  original  sin  and  from 
actual  also  for  half  a  year  before,  and  that  all  true 
christians  after  .  .  .  are  enabled  to  live  without  com- 
mitting actual  sin. 

1640.]     About   this   time   there   fell   out  a   thing 


ITEMS    FROM    WINTHROP'S    HISTORY.    1 01 

worthy  of  observation.  Mr.  Winthrop  the  younger, 
one  of  the  magistrates,  having  many  books  in  a  cham- 
ber where  there  was  corn  of  divers  sorts,  had  among 
them  one  wherein  the  Greek  Testament,  the  Psalms, 
and  the  Common  Prayer  were  bound  together.  He 
found  the  Common  Prayer  eaten  with  mice,  every 
leaf  of  it,  and  not  any  of  the  two  other  touched,  nor 
any  other  of  his  books,  though  there  were  above  a 
thousand. 

1 64 1.]  A  young  man,  a  tanner  in  Boston,  going 
to  wash  himself  in  a  creek,  said,  jestingly,  I  will  go 
and  drown  myself  now,  which  fell  out  accordingly  ; 
for  by  the  slipperiness  of  the  earth,  he  was  carried 
beyond  his  depth,  and  having  no  skill  to  swim,  was 
drowned,  though  company  were  at  hand,  and  one 
in  the  water  with  him. 

1 642.]  Nine  bachelors  commenced  at  Cambridge  ; 
they  were  young  men  of  good  hope,  and  performed 
their  acts,  so  as  gave  good  proof  of  their  proficiency 
in  the  tongues  and  arts.  The  General  Court  had 
settled  a  government  or  superintendency  over  the 
college,  viz.  all  the  magistrates  and  elders  over  the 
six  nearest  churches  and  the  president,  or  the  greatest 
part  of  these.  Most  of  them  were  now  present  at 
this  first  commencement,  and  dined  at  the  college 
with  the  scholars'  ordinary  commons,  which  was 
done  of  purpose  for  the  students'  encouragement, 
etc.,  and   it  gave  good  content   to  all. 

1645.]  Mr.  Hopkins,  the  governor  of  Hartford 
upon  Connecticut,  came  to  Boston,  and  brought  his 
wife  with  him  (a  godly  young  woman,  and  of  special 
parts),  who  was  fallen  into  a  sad  infirmity,  the  loss 
of  her   understanding   and   reason,    which    had    been 


102  JOHN    WINTHROP. 

growing  upon  her  divers  years,  by  occasion  of  her 
giving  herself  wholly  to  reading  and  writing,  and  had 
written  many  books.  Her  husband,  being  very  lov- 
ing and  tender  of  her,  was  loath  to  grieve  her  ;  but 
he  saw  his  error,  when  it  was  too  late.  For  if  she 
had  attended  her  household  affairs,  and  such  things  as 
belong  to  women,  and  not  gone  out  of  her  way  and 
calling  to  meddle  in  such  things  as  are  proper  for  men, 
whose  minds  are  stronger,  etc.,  she  had  kept  her 
wits,  and  might  have  improved  them  usefully  and  hon- 
orably in  the  place  God  had  set  her.  He  brought 
her  to  Boston,  and  left  her  with  her  brother,  one  Mr. 
Yale,  a  merchant,  to  try  what  means  might  be  had  here 
for  her.      But  no  help  could  be  had. 

1645.]  At  Ipswich  there  was  a  calf  brought  forth 
with  one  head  and  three  mouths,  three  noses,  and 
six  eyes.  What  these  prodigies  portended  the  Lord 
only  knows,  which  in  his  due  time  he  will  manifest. 

1646.]  Mention  was  made  before  of  some 
beginning  to  instruct  the  Indians,  etc.  Mr.  John 
Eliot,  teacher  of  the  church  of  Roxbury,  found  such 
encouragement,  as  he  took  great  pains  to  get  their  lan- 
guage, and  in  a  few  months  could  speak  of  the  things 
of  God  to  their  understanding  ;  and  God  prospered 
his  endeavors,  so  as  he  kept  a  constant  lecture  to  them 
in  two  places,  one  week  at  the  wigwam  of  one  Wabon, 
a  new  sachem  near  Watertown  mill,  and  the  other 
the  next  week  in  the  wigwam  of  Cutshamekin  near 
Dorchester  mill.  And  for  the  furtherance  of  the 
work  of  God,  divers  of  the  English  resorted  to  his 
lecture,  and  the  governor  and  other  of  the  magistrates 
and  elders  sometimes  ;  and  the  Indians  began  to  repair 
thither  from  other  parts. 


ITEMS    FROM    WINTHROP'S   HISTORY.    103 

His  manner  of  proceeding  was  thus  :  he  would 
persuade  one  of  the  other  elders  or  some  magistrate 
to  begin  the  exercise  with  prayer  in  English  ;  then  he 
took  a  text,  and  read  it  first  in  the  Indian  language, 
and  after  in  English  ;  then  he  preached  to  them  in 
Indian  about  an  hour  (but  first  I  should  have  spoke 
of  the  catechising  their  children,  who  were  soon 
brought  to  answer  him  some  short  questions,  where- 
upon he  gave  each  of  them  an  apple  or  a  cake)  ;  then 
he  demanded  of  some  of  the  chiefs,  if  they  under- 
stood him  ;  if  they  answered,  yea,  then  he  asked  of 
them  if  they  had  any  questions  to  propound.  And 
they  had  usually  two  or  three  or  more  questions, 
which  he  did  resolve. 

At  one  time  (when  the  governor  was  there  and 
about  two  hundred  people,  Indian  and  English,  in  one 
wigwam  of  Cutshamekin's)  an  old  man  asked  him,  if 
God  would  receive  such  an  old  man  as  he  was  ;  to 
whom  he  answered  by  opening  the  parable  of  the 
workmen  that  were  hired  into  the  vineyard  ;  and 
when  he  had  opened  it,  he  asked  the  old  man,  if  he 
did  believe  it,  who  answered  he  did,  and  was  ready 
to  weep.    .    .    . 

The  Indians  were  usually  very  attentive,  and  kept 
their  children  so  quiet  as  caused  no  disturbance.  Some 
of  them  began  to  be  seriously  affected,  and  to  under- 
stand the  things  of  God,  and  they  were  generally 
ready  to  reform  whatsoever  they  were  told  to  be  against 
the  word  of  God,  as  their  sorcery  (which  they  call 
powwowing),  their  whoredoms,  etc.,  idleness,  etc. 
The  Indians  grew  very  inquisitive  after  knowledge 
both  in  things  divine  and  also  human,  so  as  one  of 
them,    meeting    with  an  honest    plain    Englishman, 


104  JOHN    WINTHROP. 

would  needs  know  of  him,  what  were  the  first  begin- 
nings (which  we  call  principles)  of  a  commonwealth. 
The  Englishman,  being  far  short  in  the  knowledge  of 
such  matters,  yet  ashamed  that  an  Indian  should  find 
an  Englishman  ignorant  of  any  thing,  bethought  him- 
self what  answer  to  give  him,  at  last  resolved  upon 
this,  viz.,  that  the  first  principle  of  a  commonwealth 
was  salt,  for  (saith  he)  by  means  of  salt  we  can  keep 
our  flesh  and  fish,  to  have  it  ready  when  we  need  it, 
whereas  you  lose  much  for  want  of  it,  and  are  some- 
times ready  to  starve.  A  second  principle  is  iron, 
for  thereby  we  fell  trees,  build  houses,  till  our  land, 
etc.  A  third  is,  ships,  by  which  we  carry  forth  such 
commodities  as  we  have  to  spare,  and  fetch  in  such 
as  we  need,  as  cloth,  wine,  etc.  Alas  !  (saith  the 
Indian)  then  I  fear,  we  shall  never  be  a  common- 
wealth, for  we  can  neither  make  salt,  nor  iron,  nor 
ships. 

1648.]  .  .  .  God  will  be  sanctified  in  them  that 
come  near  him.  Two  others  were  the  children  of  one 
of  the  church  of  Boston.  While  their  parents  were 
at  the  lecture,  the  boy  (being  about  seven  years  of  age), 
having  a  small  staff  in  his  hand,  ran  down  upon  the  ice 
towards  a  boat  he  saw,  and  the  ice  breaking,  he  fell 
in,  but  his  staff  kept  him  up,  till  his  sister,  about  fourteen 
years  old,  ran  down  to  save  her  brother  (though  there 
were  four  men  at  hand,  and  called  to  her  not  to  go, 
being  themselves  hasting  to  save  him)  and  so  drowned 
herself  and  him  also,  being  past  recovery  ere  the  men 
could  come  at  them,  and  could  easily  reach  ground 
with  their  feet.  The  parents  had  no  more  sons,  and 
confessed  they  had  been  too  indulgent  towards  him, 
and  had  set  their  hearts  overmuch  upon  him. 


ITEMS    FROM    WINTHROP'S   HISTORY.     105 

This  puts  me  in  mind  of  another  child  very  strangely 
drowned  a  little  before  winter.  The  parents  were 
also  members  of  the  church  of  Boston.  The  father 
had  undertaken  to  maintain  the  mill-dam,  and  being 
at  work  upon  it  (with  some  help  he  had  hired),  in  the 
afternoon  of  the  last  day  of  the  week,  night  came 
upon  them  before  they  had  finished  what  they  intended, 
and  his  conscience  began  to  put  him  in  mind  of  the 
Lord's  day,  and  he  was  troubled,  yet  went  on  and 
wrought  an  hour  within  night.  The  next  day,  after 
evening  exercise,  and  after  they  had  supped,  the 
mother  put  two  children  to  bed  in  the  room  where 
themselves  did  lie,  and  they  went  out  to  visit  a  neigh- 
bor. When  they  returned,  they  continued  about  an 
hour  in  the  room,  and  missed  not  the  child,  but  then 
the  mother  going  to  the  bed,  and  not  finding  her 
youngest  child  (a  daughter  about  five  years  of  age), 
after  much  search  she  found  it  drowned  in  a  well  in 
her  cellar  ;  which  was  very  observable,  as  by  a  special 
hand  of  God,  that  the  child  should  go  out  of  that 
room  into  another  in  the  dark,  and  then  fall  down  at 
a  trap-door,  or  go  down  the  stairs,  and  so  into  the 
well  in  the  farther  end  of  the  cellar,  the  top  of  the 
well  and  the  water  being  even  with  the  ground.  But 
the  father,  freely  in  the  open  congregation,  did 
acknowledge  it  the  righteous  hand  of  God  for  his  pro- 
faning his  holy  day  against  the  checks  of  his  own 
conscience. 


106  JOHN   WINTHROP. 

WINTHROP  ON  LIBERTY. 

[From  the   Same.] 

1645.]  The  court  of  elections  was  held  at  Bos- 
ton. Mr.  Thomas  Dudley  was  chosen  governor,  Mr. 
Winthrop,  deputy  governor  again,  and  Mr.  Endecott, 
Serjeant  major  general.  Mr.  Israel  Stoughton,  hav- 
ing been  in  England  the  year  before,  and  now  gone 
again  about  his  private  occasions,  was  by  vote  left  out, 
and  Herbert  Pelham,  Esquire,  chosen  an  assistant. 

This  court  fell  out  a  troublesome  business,  which 
took  up  much  time.  The  town  of  Hingham,  having 
one  Ernes  their  lieutenant  seven  or  eight  years,  had 
lately  chosen  him  to  be  their  captain,  and  had  pre- 
sented him  to  the  standing  council  for  allowance  ;  but, 
before  it  was  accomplished,  the  greater  part  of  the 
town  took  some  light  occasion  of  offence  against  him, 
and  chose  one  Allen  to  be  their  captain,  and  presented 
him  to  the  magistrates  (in  the  time  of  the  last  general 
court)  to  be  allowed.  But  the  magistrates,  consider- 
ing the  injury  that  would  hereby  accrue  to  Ernes  (who 
had  been  their  chief  commander  so  many  years,  and 
had  deserved  well  in  his  place,  and  that  Allen  had  no 
other  skill  but  what  he  learned  from  Ernes),  refused 
to  allow  of  Allen,  but  willed  both  sides  to  return 
home,  and  every  officer  to  keep  his  place  until  the 
court  should  take  further  order.  Upon  their  return 
home,  the  messengers,  who  came  for  Allen,  called  a 
private  meeting  of  those  of  their  own  party,  and  told 
them  truly  what  answer  they  received  from  the  magis- 
trates, and   soon    after  they  appointed   a   training  day 


WINTHROP   ON    LIBERTY. 


IO7 


(without  their  lieutenant's  knowledge),  and,  being 
assembled,  the  lieutenant  hearing  of  it  came  to  them, 
and  would  have  exercised  them,  as  he  was  wont  to 
do,  but  those  of  the  other  party  refused  to  follow  him, 
except  he  would  show  them  some  order  for  it.  He 
told  them  of  the  magistrates'  order  about  it  ;  the  oth- 
ers replied  that  authority  had  advised  him  to  go  home 
and  lay  down  his  place  honorably.  Another  asked 
what  the  magistrates  had  to  do  with  them.  Another, 
that  it  was  but  three  or  four  of  the  magistrates,  and, 
if  they  had  been  all  there,  it  had  been  nothing,  for 
Mr.  Allen  had  brought  more  for  them  from  the  depu- 
ties than  the  lieutenant  had  from  the  magistrates. 
Another  of  them  professeth  he  will  die  at  the  sword's 
point  if  he  might  not  have  the  choice  of  his  own  offi- 
cers. Another  (viz.,  the  clerk  of  the  band)  stands 
up  above  the  people,  and  requires  them  to  vote  whether 
they  would  bear  them  out  in  what  was  past  and  what 
was  to  come.  This  being  assented  unto,  and  the  tu- 
mult continuing,  one  of  the  officers  (he  who  had  told 
them  that  authority  had  advised  the  lieutenant  to  go 
home  and  lay  down  his  place)  required  Allen  to  take 
the  captain's  place  ;  but,  he  not  then  accepting  it, 
they  put  it  to  the  vote  whether  he  should  be  their 
captain.  The  vote  passing  for  it,  he  then  told  the 
company  it  was  now  past  question  ;  and  thereupon 
Allen  accepted  it,  and  exercised  the  company  two  or 
three  days,  only  about  a  third  part  of  them  followed 
the  lieutenant.  He,  having  denied  in  the  open  field 
that  authority  had  advised  him  to  lay  down  his  place, 
and  putting  (in  some  sort)  the  lie  upon  those  who 
had  so  reported,  was  the  next  Lord's  day  called  to 
answer  it  before  the  church  ;   and,  he  standing  to  main- 


I08  JOHN    WINTHROR 

tain  what  he  had  said,  five  witnesses  were  produced 
to  convince  him.  Some  of  them  affirmed  the  words, 
the  others  explained  their  meaning  to  be  that  one  mag- 
istrate had  so  advised  him.  He  denied  both.  Where- 
upon the  pastor,  one  Mr.  Hubbert  (brother  to  three  of 
the  principal  in  this  sedition),  was  very  forward  to  have 
excommunicated  the  lieutenant  presently  ;  but,  upon 
some  opposition,  it  was  put  off  to  the  next  day. 
Thereupon  the  lieutenant  and  some  three  or  four 
more  of  the  chief  men  of  the  town  inform  four  of  the 
next  magistrates  of  these  proceedings,  who  forthwith 
met  at  Boston  about  it  (viz.,  the  deputy  governor,  the 
serjeant  major  general,  the  secretary,  and  Mr.  Hib- 
bins).  These,  considering  the  case,  sent  warrant  to 
the  constable  to  attach  some  of  the  principal  offender;, 
(viz. ,  three  of  the  Hubbards  and  two  more)  to  appear 
before  them  at  Boston,  to  find  sureties  for  their  appear  • 
ance  at  the  next  court,  etc.  Upon  the  day  they  came 
to  Boston  ;  but  their  said  brother  the  minister  came 
before  them,  and  fell  to  expostulate  with  the  said  mag- 
istrates about  the  said  cause,  complaining  against  the 
complainants,  as  talebearers,  etc.,  taking  it  very  dis- 
dainfully that  his  brethren  should  be  sent  for  by  a 
constable,  with  other  high  speeches,  which  were  so 
provoking,  as  some  of  the  magistrates  told  him,  that, 
were  it  not  for  respect  to  his  ministry,  they  would 
commit  him.  When  his  brethren  and  the  rest  were 
come  in,  the  matters  of  the  information  were  laid  to 
their  charge,  which  they  denied  for  the  most  part. 
So  they  were  bound  over  (each  for  other)  to  the  next 
court  of  assistants.  After  this  five  others  were  sent  for 
by  summons  (these  were  only  for  speaking  untruths  of 
the  magistrates  in  the  church).      They  came  before 


WINTHROP   ON    LIBERTY. 


109 


the  deputy  governor,  when  he  was  alone,  and  de- 
manded the  cause  of  their  sending  for,  and  to  know 
their  accusers.  The  deputy  told  them  so  much  of  the 
cause  as  he  could  remember,  and  referred  them  to  the 
secretary  for  a  copy,  and  for  their  accusers  he  told 
them  they  knew  both  the  men  and  the  matter,  neither 
was  a  judge  bound  to  let  a  criminal  offender  know  his 
accusers  before  the  day  of  trial,  but  only  in  his  own 
discretion,  least  the  accuser  might  be  taken  off  or  per- 
verted, etc.  Being  required  to  give  bond  for  their 
appearance,  etc.,  they  refused.  The  deputy  labored 
to  let  them  see  their  error,  and  gave  them  time  to 
consider  of  it.  About  fourteen  days  after,  seeing  two 
of  them  in  the  court  (which  was  kept  by  those  four 
magistrates  for  smaller  causes),  the  deputy  required 
them  again  to  enter  bond  for  their  appearance,  etc., 
and  upon  their  second  refusal  committed  them  in  that 
open  court. 

The  general  court  falling  out  before  the  court  of 
assistants,  the  Hubberts  and  the  two  which  were 
committed,  and  others  of  Hingham,  about  ninety 
(whereof  Mr.  Hubbert  their  minister  was  the  first), 
presented  a  petition  to  the  general  court.    .    .    . 

The  day  appointed  being  come,  the  court  assem- 
bled in  the  meeting  house  at  Boston.  Divers  of  the 
elders  were  present,  and  a  great  assembly  of  people. 
The  deputy  governor,  coming  in  with  the  rest  of  the 
magistrates,  placed  himself  beneath  within  the  bar,  and 
so  sat  uncovered.  Some  question  was  in  the  court 
about  his  being  in  that  place  (for  many  both  of  the 
court  and  the  assembly  were  grieved  at  it).  But  the 
deputy  telling  them  that,  being  criminally  accused,  he 
might  not  sit  as  a  judge  in  that  cause,  and,  if  he  were 


110  JOHN    WINTHROP. 

upon  the  bench,  it  would  be  a  great  disadvantage  to 
him,  for  he  could  not  take  that  liberty  to  plead  the 
cause,  which  he  ought  to  be  allowed  at  the  bar,  upon 
this  the  court  was  satisfied. 

The  petitioners  having  declared  their  grievances, 
etc.,  the  deputy  craved  leave  to  make  answer.    .    .    . 

Hereupon  the  court  proceeded  to  examine  the 
whole  cause.  The  deputy  justified  all  the  particulars 
laid  to  his  charge,  as  that  upon  credible  information 
of  such  a  mutinous  practice,  and  open  disturbance  of 
the  peace,  and  slighting  of  authority,  the  offenders 
were  sent  for,  the  principal  by  warrant  to  the  con- 
stable to  bring  them,  and  others  by  summons,  and 
that  some  were  bound  over  to  the  next  court  of 
assistants,  and  others  that  refused  to  be  bound  were 
committed;  and  all  this  according  to  the  equity  of 
laws  here  established,  and  the  custom  and  laws  of 
England,  and  our  constant  practice  here  these  fifteen 
years.  And  for  some  speeches  he  was  charged  with 
as  spoken  to  the  delinquents,  when  they  came  before 
him  at  his  house,  when  none  were  present  with  him 
but  themselves,  first  he  appealed  to  the  judgment  of 
the  court,  whether  delinquents  may  be  received  as 
competent  witnesses  against  a  magistrate  in  such  a 
case;  then,  for  the  words  themselves,  some  he  justi- 
fied, some  he  explained  so  as  no  advantage  could  be 
taken  of  them,  as  that  he  should  say  that  the  magis- 
trates could  try  some  criminal  causes  without  a  jury, 
that  he  knew  no  law  of  God  or  man  which  required 
a  judge  to  make  known  to  the  party  his  accusers  (or 
rather  witnesses)  before  the  cause  came  to  hearing. 
But  two  of  them  charged  him  to  have  said  that  it  was 
against  the  law  of  God  and  man  so  n  d"),  which  had 


WINTHROP   ON    LIBERTY.  I  I  I 

been  absurd ;  for  the  deputy  professed  he  knew  no 
law  against  it,  only  a  judge  may  sometimes,  in  dis- 
cretion, conceal  their  names,  etc.,  least  they  should 
be  tampered  with  or  conveyed  out  of  the  way,  etc. 

Two  of  the  magistrates  and  many  of  the  deputies 
were  of  opinion  that  the  magistrates  exercised  too 
much  power,  and  that  the  people's  liberty  was  thereby 
in  danger;  and  other  of  the  deputies  (being  about 
half)  and  all  the  rest  of  the  magistrates  were  of  a 
different  judgment,  and  that  authority  was  overmuch 
slighted,  which,  if  not  timely  remedied,  would  en- 
danger the  commonwealth,  and  bring  us  to  a  mere 
democracy.  By  occasion  of  this  difference,  there 
was  not  so  orderly  carriage  at  the  hearing  as  was  meet, 
each  side  striving  unseasonaEly  to  enforce  the  evi- 
dence, and  declaring  their  judgments  thereupon,  which 
should  have  been  reserved  to  a  more  private  debate 
(as  after  it  was),  so  as  the  best  part  of  two  days  was 
spent  in  this  public  agitation  and  examination  of  wit- 
nesses, etc.  This  being  ended,  a  committee  was 
chosen  of  magistrates  and  deputies  who  stated  the 
case,  as  it  appeared  upon  the  whole  pleading  and  evi- 
dence, though  it  cost  much  time,  and  with  great  dif- 
ficulty did  the  committee  come  to  accord  upon  it.    .    .   . 

The  deputies  finding  themselves  now  at  the  wall, 
and  not  daring  to  trust  the  elders  with  the  cause,  they 
sent  to  desire  that  six  of  themselves  might  come  and 
confer  with  the  magistrates,  which  being  granted,  they 
came,  and  at  last  came  to  this  agreement;  viz.,  the 
chief  petitioners  and  the  rest  of  the  offenders  were 
severally  fined  (all  their  fines  not  amounting  to  50 
pounds),  the  rest  of  the  petitioners  to  bear  equal  share 
to  50  pounds  more  towards  the  charges  of  the  court 


112  JOHN   WINTHROP. 

(two  of  the  principal  offenders  were  the  deputies  of  the 
town,  Joshua  Hubbert  and  Bozone  Allen,  the  first 
was  fined  20  pounds,  and  the  other  5  pounds),  lieu- 
tenant Ernes  to  be  under  admonition,  the  deputy  gov- 
ernor to  be  legally  and  publicly  acquit  of  all  that  was 
laid  to  his  charge. 

According  to  this  agreement,  presently  after  the 
lecture  the  magistrates  and  deputies  took  their  places 
in  the  meeting  house,  and  the  people  being  come 
together,  and  the  deputy  governor  placing  himself 
within  the  bar,  as  at  the  time  of  the  hearing,  etc., 
the  governor  read  the  sentence  of  the  court,  with- 
out speaking  any  more,  for  the  deputies  had  (by 
importunity)  obtained  a  promise  of  silence  from  the 
magistrates.  Then  w'as  the  deputy  governor  desired 
by  the  court  to  go  up  and  take  his  place  again  upon 
the  bench,  which  he  did  accordingly,  and,  the  court 
being  about  to  arise,  he  desired  leave  for  a  little  speech, 
which  was  to  this  effect:  — 

I  suppose  something  may  be  expected  from  me 
upon  this  charge  that  is  befallen  me,  which  moves  me 
to  speak  now  to  you ;  yet  I  intend  not  to  intermeddle 
in  the  proceedings  of  the  court,  or  with  any  of  the 
persons  concerned  therein.  Only  I  bless  God  that 
I  see  an  issue  of  this  troublesome  business.  I  also 
acknowledge  the  justice  of  the  court,  and,  for  mine 
own  part,  I  am  well  satisfied,  I  was  publicly  charged, 
and  I  am  publicly  and  legally  acquitted,  which  is  all 
I  did  expect  or  desire.  And  though  this  be  sufficient 
for  my  justification  before  men,  yet  not  so  before  the 
God  who  hath  seen  so  much  amiss  in  my  dispensa- 
tions (and  even  in  this  affair)  as  calls  me  to  be  hum- 


WINTHROP   ON    LIBERTY.  I  13 

ble.  For  to  be  publicly  and  criminally  charged  in 
this  court  is  matter  of  humiliation  (and  I  desire  to 
make  a  right  use  of  it),  notwithstanding  I  be  thus 
acquitted.  If  her  father  had  spit  in  her  face  (saith 
the  Lord  concerning  Miriam),  should  she  not  have 
been  ashamed  seven  days  ?  Shame  had  lien  upon  her, 
whatever  the  occasion  had  been.  I  am  unwilling  to 
stay  you  from  your  urgent  affairs,  yet  give  me  leave 
(upon  this  special  occasion)  to  speak  a  little  more  to 
this  assembly.  It  may  be  of  some  good  use  to  inform 
and  rectify  the  judgments  of  some  of  the  people,  and 
may  prevent  such  distempers  as  have  arisen  amongst 
us.  The  great  questions  that  have  troubled  the  coun- 
try are  about  the  authority  of  the  magistrates  and  the 
liberty  of  the  people.  It  is  yourselves  who  have 
called  us  to  this  office,  and,  being  called  by  you,  we 
have  our  authority  from  God,  in  way  of  an  ordinance, 
such  as  hath  the  image  of  God  eminently  stamped 
upon  it,  the  contempt  and  violation  whereof  hath  been 
vindicated  with  examples  of  divine  vengeance.  I 
entreat  you  to  consider  that,  when  you  choose  magis- 
trates, you  take  them  from  among  yourselves,  men 
subject  to  like  passions  as  you  are.  Therefore,  when 
you  see  infirmities  in  us,  you  should  reflect  upon  your 
own,  and  that  would  make  you  bear  the  more  with 
us,  and  not  be  severe  censurers  of  the  failings  of  your 
magistrates,  when  you  have  continual  experience  of 
the  like  infirmities  in  yourselves  and  others.  We 
account  him  a  good  servant  who  breaks  not  his  cov- 
enant. The  covenant  between  you  and  us  is  the 
oath  you  have  taken  of  us,  which  is  to  this  purpose, 
that  we  shall  govern  you  and  judge  your  causes  by  the 
rules  of  God's  laws  and  our  own,  according  to  our 


114  JOHN   WINTHROR 

best  skill.  When  you  agree  with  a  workman  to  build 
you  a  ship  or  house,  etc.,  he  undertakes  as  well  for 
his  skill  as  for  his  faithfulness ;  for  it  is  his  profession, 
and  you  pay  him  for  both.  But,  when  you  call  one 
to  be  a  magistrate,  he  doth  not  profess  nor  undertake 
to  have  sufficient  skill  for  that  office,  nor  can  you  fur- 
nish him  with  gifts,  etc.,  therefore  you  must  run  the 
hazard  of  his  skill  and  ability.  But  if  he  fail  in  faith- 
fulness, which  by  his  oath  he  is  bound  unto,  that  he 
must  answer  for.  If  it  fall  out  that  the  case  be  clear 
to  common  apprehension,  and  the  rule  clear  also,  if 
he  transgress  here,  the  error  is  not  in  the  skill,  but  in 
the  evil  of  the  will :  it  must  be  required  of  him.  But 
if  the  case  be  doubtful,  or  the  rule  doubtful,  to  men 
of  such  understanding  and  parts  as  your  magistrates 
are,  if  your  magistrates  should  err  here,  yourselves 
must  bear  it. 

For  the  other  point  concerning  liberty,  I  observe 
a  great  mistake  in  the  country  about  that.  There  is 
a  twofold  liberty,  natural  (I  mean  as  our  nature  is  now 
corrupt)  and  civil  or  federal.  The  first  is  common 
to  man  with  beasts  and  other  creatures.  By  this,  man 
as  he  stands  in  relation  to  man  simply,  hath  liberty  to 
do  what  he  lists :  it  is  a  liberty  to  evil  as  well  as  to 
good.  This  liberty  is  incompatible  and  inconsistent 
with  authority,  and  cannot  endure  the  least  restraint 
of  the  most  just  authority.  The  exercise  and  main- 
taining of  this  liberty  makes  men  grow  more  evil,  and 
in  time  to  be  worse  than  brute  beasts:  omnes  sumus 
licentia  deteriores.  This  is  that  great  enemy  of  truth 
and  peace,  that  wild  beast,  which  all  the  ordinances 
of  God  are  bent  against,  to  restrain  and  subdue  it. 
The  other  kind  of  liberty  I  call  civil  or  federal ;  it  may 


WINTHROP  ON   LIBERTY. 


115 


also  be  termed  moral,  in  reference  to  the  covenant  be- 
tween God  and  man,  in  the  moral  law,  and  the  poli- 
tic covenants  and  constitutions,  amongst  men  them- 
selves. This  liberty  is  the  proper  end  and  object  of" 
authority,  and  cannot  subsist  without  it;  and  it  is  a 
liberty  to  that  only  which  is  good,  just,  and  honest. 
This  liberty  you  are  to  stand  for,  with  the  hazard  (not 
only  of  your  goods,  but)  of  your  lives,  if  need  be. 
Whatsoever  crosseth  this  is  not  authority,  but  a  distem- 
per thereof.  This  liberty  is  maintained  and  exercised 
in  a  way  of  subjection  to  authority  ;  it  is  of  the  same 
kind  of  liberty  wherewith  Christ  hath  made  us  free. 
The  woman's  own  choice  makes  such  a  man  her  hus- 
band ;  yet,  being  so  chosen,  he  is  her  lord,  and  she  is 
to  be  subject  to  him,  yet  in  a  way  of  liberty,  not  of 
bondage ;  and  a  true  wife  accounts  her  subjection  her 
honor  and  freedom,  and  would  not  think  her  condi- 
tion safe  and  free  but  in  her  subjection  to  her  husband's 
authority.  Such  is  the  liberty  of  the  church  under 
the  authority  of  Christ,  her  king  and  husband  ;  his  yoke 
is  so  easy  and  sweet  to  her  as  a  bride's  ornaments  ;  and 
if  through  frowardness  or  wantonness,  etc.,  she  shake  it 
off,  at  any  time,  she  is  at  no  rest  in  her  spirit  until  she 
take  it  up  again ;  and  whether  her  lord  smiles  upon 
her,  and  embraceth  her  in  his  arms,  or  whether  he 
frowns,  or  rebukes,  or  smites  her,  she  apprehends  the 
sweetness  of  his  love  in  all,  and  is  refreshed,  supported, 
and  instructed  by  every  such  dispensation  of  his  au- 
thority over  her.  On  the  other  side,  ye  know  who 
they  are  that  complain  of  this  yoke  and  say,  let  us 
break  their  bands,  etc.,  we  will  not  have  this  man  to 
rule  over  us.  Even  so,  brethren,  it  will  be  between 
you  and    your  magistrates.      If  you  stand  for    your 


I  I  6  JOHN    WINTHROP. 

natural  corrupt  liberties,  and  will  do  what  is  good  in 
your  own  eyes,  you  will  not  endure  the  least  weight 
of  authority,  but  will  murmur,  and  oppose,  and  be 
always  striving  to  shake  off  that  yoke ;  but  if  you  will 
be  satisfied  to  enjoy  such  civil  and  lawful  liberties,  such 
as  Christ  allows  you,  then  will  you  quietly  and  cheer- 
fully submit  unto  that  authority  which  is  set  over  you, 
in  all  the  administrations  of  it,  for  your  good.  Wherein, 
if  we  fail  at  any  time,  we  hope  we  shall  be  willing 
(by  God's  assistance)  to  hearken  to  good  advice  from 
any  of  you,  or  in  any  other  way  of  God ;  so  shall 
your  liberties  be  preserved,  in  upholding  the  honor 
and  power  of  authority  amongst  you. 

The  deputy  governor  having  ended  his  speech,  the 
court  arose,  and  the  magistrates  and  deputies  retired 
to  attend  their  other  affairs. 


LETTERS    TO    AND    FROM    WINTHROP 
AND    HIS    WIFE. 

A  Letter  written  by  John  Winthrop  to  his 
Third  Wife,    Margaret,   April   3,    1630. 

My  love,  my  joy,  my  faithful  one,  I  suppose  thou 
didst  not  expect  to  have  any  more  letters  from  me 
till  the  return  of  our  ships  ;  but  so  is  the  good  pleas- 
ure of  God,  that  the  wind  should  not  serve  yet  to 
carry  us  hence.  He  will  do  all  things  in  his  own 
time,  and  that  shall  be  for  the  best  in  the  end.  We 
acknowledge  it  a  great  mercy  to  us,  that  we  went  not 
out  to  sea  on  Monday,  when  the  wind  was  fair  for 


LETTERS.  1 1  7 

one  day  ;  for  we  had  been  exposed,  ever  since,  to 
sore  tempests  and  contrary  winds.  I  praise  God, 
we  are  all  in  good  health,  and  want  nothing.  For 
myself,  I  was  never  at  more  liberty  of  body  and  mind 
these  many  years.  The  Lord  make  me  thankful  and 
wise  to  improve  his  blessings  for  the  furtherance  of 
his  own  work.  I  desire  to  resign  myself  wholly  to 
his  gracious  disposing.  Oh  that  I  had  an  heart  so  to 
do,  and  to  trust  perfectly  in  him  for  his  assistance 
in  all  our  ways.  We  find  him  still  going  along  with 
us.  He  hath  brought  in  the  heart  of  the  master  of 
our  ship  to  afford  us  all  good  respect,  and  to  join  with 
us  in  every  good  action.  Yesterday  he  caused  his 
seamen  to  keep  a  fast  with  us,  wherein  the  Lord 
assisted  us  and  our  minister  very  comfortably  ;  and 
when  five  of  the  clock  came,  I  had  respite  to  re- 
member thee  (it  being  Friday),  and  to  parley  with 
thee,  and  to  meet  thee  in  spirit  before  the  Lord.  .  .  . 
I  am  uncertain  whether  I  shall  have  opportunity  to 
send  these  to  thee  ;  for,  if  the  wind  turn,  we  shall 
soon  be  gone.  Therefore  I  will  not  write  much.  I 
know  it  will  be  sufficient  for  thy  present  comfort,  to 
hear  of  our  welfare  ;  and  this  is  the  third  letter  I  have 
written  to  thee,  since  I  came  to  Hampton,  in  requital 
of  those  two  I  received  from  thee,  which  I  do  often 
read  with  much  delight,  apprehending  so  much  love 
and  sweet  affection  in  them,  as  I  am  never  satisfied 
with  reading,  nor  can  read  them  without  tears  ;  but 
whether  they  proceed  from  joy,  sorrow,  or  desire,  or 
f-om  that  consent  of  affection  which  I  always  hold 
with  thee,  I  cannot  conceive.  Ah,  my  dear  heart, 
I  ever  held  thee  in  high  esteem,  as  thy  love  and  good- 
ness hath  well  deserved  ;  but  (if  it  be  possible)  I  shall 


I  I  8  JOHN   WINTHROP. 

yet  prize  thy  virtue  at  a  greater  rate,  and  long  more 
to  enjoy  thy  sweet  society  than  ever  before.  I  am 
sure  thou  art  not  short  of  me  in  this  desire.  Let  us 
pray  hard,  and  pray  in  faith,  and  our  God,  in  his 
good  time,  will  accomplish  our  desire.  Oh,  how 
loath  am  I  to  bid  thee  farewell  !  but,  since  it  must  be, 
farewell,  my  sweet  love,  farewell.  Farewell,  my 
dear  children  and  family.  The  Lord  bless  you  all, 
and  grant  me  to  see  your  faces  once  again.  Come 
(my  dear),  take  him  and  let  him  rest  in  thine  arms, 
who  will  ever  remain, 

Thy  faithful  husband 

Jo.     WlNTHROP. 

Commend  my  love  to  all  our  friends  at  Castleins, 
Mr.  Leigh  and  his  wife,  my  neighbor  Cole  and  his 
wife,  and  all  the  rest  of  our  good  friends  and  neigh- 
bors, and  our  good  friends  at  Maplested,  when  you 
see  them,  and  those  our  worthy  and  kind  friends  at 
Assington,  etc.  My  brother  Arthur  hath  carried 
himself  very  soberly  since  he  came  on  shipboard,  and 
so  hath  Mr.  Brand's  son,  and  my  cousin  Ro.  Samp- 
son.     I  hope  their  friends  shall  hear  well  of  them. 

From  aboard  the  Arbella,  riding  before  Yarmouth, 
in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  April  3,  1630. 

To  my  very  loving  Wife,  Mrs.  Winthrop,  ") 
the  elder,  at  Groton,  in  Suffolk,  d'd.  j 


LETTERS. 


Mrs.   Winthrop  to  her  Husband. 


II9 


Dear  in  my  thoughts,  I  blush  to  think  how  much 
I  have  neglected  the  opportunity  of  presenting  my 
love  to  you.  Sad  thoughts  possess  my  spirits,  and 
I  cannot  repulse  them  ;  which  makes  me  unfit  for  any 
thing,  wondering  what  the  Lord  means  by  all  these 
troubles  among  us.  Sure  I  am,  that  all  shall  work 
to  the  best  to  them  that  love  God,  or  rather  are  loved 
of  him.  I  know  he  will  bring  light  out  of  obscurity, 
and  make  his  righteousness  shine  forth  as  clear  as  the 
noonday.  Yet  I  find  in  myself  an  adverse  spirit,  and 
a  trembling  heart,  not  co-willing  to  submit  to  the  will 
of  God  as  I  desire.  There  is  a  time  to  plant,  and  a 
time  to  pull  up  that  which  is  planted,  which  I  could 
desire  might  not  be  yet.  But  the  Lord  knoweth  what 
is  best,  and  his  will  be  done.  But  I  will  write  no 
more.  Hoping  to  see  thee  to-morrow,  my  best 
affections  being  commended  to  yourself,  the  rest  of 
our  friends  at  Newton,  I  commend  thee  to  God. 
Your  loving  wife, 

Margaret  Winthrop. 

Sad  Boston,  1637. 


To  her  honored  Husband, 
these  be  delivered. 


THE    BAY    PSALM    BOOK. 

The  Bay  Psalm  Book  has  the  distinction  of  being 
the  first  book  published  in  British  America.  It  was 
the  joint  product  of  Richard  Mather,  founder  of  that 
distinguished  family  of  New  England  divines,  Thomas 
Welde  and  John  Eliot,  the  missionary  to  the  Indians. 
It  was  printed  by  Stephen  Dave  at  Cambridge  in 
1640,  was  amended  in  1650,  and  remained  in  gen- 
eral use  for  many  years  among  the  New  England 
clergy.  The  question  as  to  whether  it  was  right  to 
sing  to  the  Lord  with  a  cheerful  voice  or  any  other 
continued  to  be  a  subject  of  bitter  controversy,  in 
which  John  Cotton  took  the  more  liberal  side.  Although 
modern  hymnbooks  contain  verses  hardly  less  painful 
to  the  cultivated  ear,  it  is  hard  to  realize  how  such 
a  crude  performance  could  have  ministered  to  edifica- 
tion, for  it  outdid  Sternhold  and  Hopkins  in  harsh 
crudity  of  style,  metre  and  rhythm.  Yet  it  was  the 
product  of  university  men.  Mather  had  been  a  stu- 
dent at  Oxford  ;  John  Eliot  was  a  graduate  of  Cam- 
bridge. They  must  have  served  their  apprenticeship 
at  Latin  verse-making,  and  it  is  incredible  that  they 
should  not  have  been  able  to  write  better  English 
verse  had  they  so  desired.  But  they  were  determined 
that  the  Lord's  praises  should  be  sung  according  to 
his  own  will,  and  with  their  ideas  of  literal  Biblical 
inspiration,  they  were  willing  to  sacrifice  every  element 
of  poetry  to  what   they  imagined   was  faithfulness  to 


THE    BAY    PSALM    BOOK.  121 

Hebrew  originals.  They  tell  us  in  their  preface  that 
they  "attempted  conscience  rather  than  elegance, 
fidelity  rather  than  poetry."  That  they  thought  these 
qualities  contradictory  illustrates  the  fatal  flaw  in 
Puritan  aesthetics.  How  numbing  this  moral  disci- 
pline had  been  to  the  harmonies  and  amenities  of  life 
may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  few  congregations 
knew  more  than  five  tunes,  and  but  ten  are  known  to 
have  been  used  for  the  first  half-century  of  the  Bay 
Psalm  Book1  s  existence. 


[From  the   Preface.] 

If  therefore  the  verses  are  not  always  so  smooth 
and  elegant  as  some  may  desire  or  expect ;  let  them 
consider  that  God's  Altar  needs  not  our  polishings : 
Ex.  20.  for  we  have  respected  rather  a  plain  trans- 
lation, than  to  smooth  our  verses  with   the  sweetness 
of  any  paraphrase,  and  so  have  attended  conscience 
rather  than  elegance,  fidelity  rather  than  poetry,  in 
translating  the  Hebrew  words  into  English  language, 
and  David's  poetry  into  English  metre  ;   that  so  we 
may  sing  in  Sion  the  Lord's  songs  of  praise  ac- 
cording to  his  own  will ;  until  he  take  us 
from  hence,  and  wipe  away  all  our 
tears,  and  bid  us  enter  into  our 
master's  joy  to  sing  eternal 
Halleluiahs. 


122  THE    BAY   PSALM    BOOK. 

PSALM    XXIII. 

A    PSALM    OF    DAVID. 

The  earth  Iehovah's  is, 

and  the  fulness  of  it  : 
the  habitable  world,  and  they 

that  there  upon  do  sit. 

2  Because  upon  the  seas, 

he  hath  it  firmly  laid  : 
and  it  upon  the  water-floods 
most  solidly  hath  staid. 

3  The  mountain  of  the  Lord, 

who  shall  thereto  ascend  ? 
and  in  his  place  of  holiness 

who  is  it  that  shall  stand  ? 

4  The  clean  in  hands,  and  pure 

in  heart  ;   to  vanity 
who  hath  not  lifted  up  his  soul, 
nor  sworn  deceitfully. 

5  From  God  he  shall  receive 

a  benediction, 
and  righteousness  from  the  strong-God 
of  his  salvation. 

6  This  is  the  progeny 

of  them  that  seek  thy  face  : 
of  them  that  do  inquire  for  him  : 

of  Iacob  'tis  the  race.  Selah. 

7  Ye  gates  lift-up  your  heads, 

and  doors  everlasting, 
be  ye  lift  up  :  and  there  into 

shall  come  the  glorious-King. 


THE    BAY    PSALM    BOOK.  1 23 

8  Who  is  this  glorious-King  ? 

Iehovah,  puissant, 
and  valiant,  Iehovah  is 
in  battle  valiant. 

9  Ye  gates  lift-up  your  heads, 

and  doors  everlasting, 
do  ye  lift-up  :   and  there  into 

shall  come  the  glorious-King, 
o  Who  is  this  glorious-King  ? 

lo,  it  is  Iehovah 
of  warlike  armies,  he  the  King 

of  glory  is  ;  Selah. 

PSALM    XXIX. 

A    PSALM    OF    DAVID. 

Unto  the  Lord  do  ye  ascribe 

(o  Sonnes  of  the  mighty) 
unto  the  Lord  do  ye  ascribe 

glory  and  potency. 

2  Unto  the  Lord  do  ye  ascribe 

his  name's  glorious  renown, 
in  beauty  of  his  holiness 

unto  the  Lord  bow  down. 

3  The  mighty  voice  of  Iehovah 

upon  the  waters  is  : 
the  God  of  glory  thundereth, 
God  on  great  waters  is. 

4  Iehovah' s  voice  is  powerful, 

God's  voice  is  glorious, 

5  God's  voice  breaks  cedars  :   yea  God  breaks 

cedars  of  Lebanus. 


124  THE    BAY    PSALM    BOOK. 

6  He  makes  them  like  a  calf  to  skip  : 

the  mountain  Lebanon, 
and  like  to  a  young  Unicorn 
the  hill  of  Syrion. 

7  God's  voice  divides  the  flames  of  fire. 

8  Iehovah's  voice  doth  make 

the  desert  shake  :   the  Lord  doth  cause 
the  Cadesh-desert  shake. 

9  The  Lord's  voice  makes  the  hinds  to  calve, 

and  makes  the  forest  bare  : 
and  in  his  temple  every  one 

his  glory  doth  declare. 
io  The  Lord  sate  on  the  floods  :   the  Lord 

for  ever  sits  as  King. 
1 1    God  to  his  folk  gives  strength  :   the  Lord 

his  folk  with  peace  blessing. 

PSALM    LXIII. 

A  Psalm  of  David,  when  he  was  in  the  wilderness  of  Judah. 

O  God,  thou  art  my  God,  early 

I  will  for  thee  inquire  : 
my  soul  thirsteth  for  thee,  my  flesh 

for  thee  hath  strong  desire, 
In  land  whereas  no  water  is 

that  thirsty  is  and  dry. 

2  To  see,  as  I  saw  in  thine  house 

thy  strength  and  thy  glory. 

3  Because  thy  loving  kindness  doth 

abundantly  excel 
ev'n  life  itself:    wherefore  my  lips 
forth  shall  thy  praises  tell 


THE    BAY    PSALM    BOOK.  125 

4  Thus  will  I  blessing  give  to  thee 

whilst  that  alive  am  I  : 
and  in  thy  name  I  will  lift  up 

these  hands  of  mine  on  high. 

5  My  soul  as  with  marrow  and  fat 

shall  satisfied  be  : 
my  mouth  also  with  joyful  lips 
shall  praise  give  unto  thee. 

6  When  as  that  I  remembrance  have 

of  thee  my  bed  upon, 
and  on  thee  in  the  night  watches 
have  meditation. 

7  Because  that  thou  hast  been  to  me 

he  that  to  me  help  brings  ; 
therefore  will  I  sing  joyfully 
in  shadow  of  thy  wings. 

8  My  soul  out  of  an  ardent  love 

doth  follow  after  thee  : 
also  thy  right  hand  it  is  that 

which  hath  upholden  me.     ' 

9  But  as  for  those  that  seek  my  soul 

to  bring  it  to  an  end, 
they  shall  into  the  lower  parts 
of  the  earth  down  descend. 

10  By  the  hand  of  the  sword  also 

they  shall  be  made  to  fall : 
and  they  be  for  a  portion 
unto  the  foxes  shall. 

1 1  But  the  King  shall  rejoice  in  God, 

all  that  by  him  do  swear 
shall  glory,  but  stopped  shall  be 
their  mouths  that  liars  are. 


126  THE    BAY    PSALM    BOOK. 


PSALM   CXXXVII. 

1  The  rivers  on  of  Babilon, 

there  where  we  did  sit  down2 
Yea  even  then  we  mourned  when 
we  remembered  Sion. 

2  Our  harp  we  did  hang  it  amid, 

Upon  the  willow  tree, 

3  Because  there  they  that  us  away 

led  in  captivity 
Requir'd  of  us  a  song,  and  thus 

ask't  mirth  us  waste  who  laid, 
Sing  us  among  a  Sion's  song, 

unto  us  then  they  said. 

4  The  Lord's  song  sing  can  we  ?  being 

in  stranger's  land,  then  let 

5  lose  her  skill  my  right  hand  if  I 

Jerusalem  forget. 

6  Let  cleave  my  tongue  my  palate  on 

•  if  mind  thee  do  not  I, 
if  chief  joys  o'er  I  prize  not  more 
Jerusalem  my  joy. 

7  Remember  Lord,  Edom's  sons'  word, 

unto  the  ground  said  they, 
it  raze,  it  raze,  when  as  it  was 
Jerusalem  her  day. 

8  Blest  shall  he  be  that  payeth  thee 

daughter  of  Babilon, 
who  must  be  waste,  that  which  thou  hast 
rewarded  us  upon. 

9  O  happy  he  shall  surely  be 

that  taketh  up,  that  eke 
thy  little  ones  against  the  stones 
doth  into  pieces  break. 


JOHN    UNDERHILL. 

John  Underhill,  one  of  the  annalists  of  the  Pequot 
War,  was  born  in  Warwickshire,  England,  it  is  not 
known  when,  and  died  at  Oyster  Bay,  Long  Island, 
about  1672.  He  had  served  in  the  Netherlands  and 
at  Cadiz  before  his  advent  in  New  England  with  John 
Winthrbp.  He  soon  took  a  prominent  place  in  the 
Puritan  colony  and  was  representative  in  the  Assembly. 
Appointed  by  Sir  Henry  Vane  to  be  Commander  of 
the  Colony's  troops,  he  conducted  their  operations  so 
efficiently  as  utterly  to  break  the  power  of  the  Pequot 
Indians  in  the  campaign  described  with  much  verve 
in  his  brief  News  from  America  (1638).  His 
companion  in  this  undertaking  was  Captain  John 
Mason,  who  will  speak  for  himself  presently.  His 
religious  opinions  and  private  morals  were  less  accept- 
able to  the  colony  than  his  soldierly  qualities.  He 
was  banished  from  Boston,  and  went  to  England, 
where  we  find  him  in  1641  governor  of  Exeter  and 
Dover.  He  returned,  however,  to  America,  settling 
first  in  Stamford,  Conn.,  then  in  Flushing,  L.I., 
having  in  the  meantime  held  an  important  command 
in  the  hostilities  carried  on  by  the  Colonies  against  the 
Indians  and  Dutch.  He  was  prominent  in  public  af- 
fairs until  his  death.  His  destruction  of  the  Pequots 
was  so  warmly  appreciated  by  the  rival  Mantinenoc 
[ndians,  that  they  presented  him  with  1  50  acres  of 
127 


128  JOHN    UNDERHILL. 

land,  still  held  by  his  descendants.  Underhill  is 
most  remarkable  for  his  skill  in  discerning  special 
providences,  and  in  laying  to  his  soul  the  flattering 
unction  of  godliness,  while  abetting  cruel  barbarities. 


HOW  UNDERHILL   ESCAPED  DEATH   AT 
BLOCK  ISLAND. 

[From  "  News  from  America  or  a  Late  Experi- 
mental Discovery  of  New-England,"   1638.] 

Drawing  near  to  the  place  of  landing,  the  number 
that  rose  from  behind  the  barricado  were  between  fifty 
or  sixty  able  fighting  men  —  men  as  straight  as  arrows, 
very  tall,  and  of  active  bodies  —  having  their  arrows 
notched.  They  drew  near  to  the  water-side,  and  let 
fly  at  the  soldiers,  as  though  they  had  meant  to  have 
made  an  end  of  us  all  in  a  moment.  They  shot  a 
young  gentleman  in  the  neck  through  a  collar  for  stiff- 
ness as'  if  it  had  been  an  oaken  board,  and  entered  his 
flesh  a  good  depth.  Myself  received  an  arrow  through 
my  coat-sleeve,  a  second  against  my  helmet  on  the 
forehead  ;  so  as  if  God  in  his  providence  had  not 
moved  the  heart  of  my  wife  to  persuade  me  to  carry 
it  along  with  me,  (which  I  was  unwilling  to  do,)  I 
had  been  slain.  Give  me  leave  to  observe  two  things 
from  hence  :  first,  when  the  hour  of  death  is  not  yet 
come,  you  see  God  useth  weak  means  to  keep  his  pur- 
pose unviolated  ;  secondly,  let  no  man  despise  advice 
and  counsel  of  his  wife,  though  she  be  a  woman.  It 
were  strange  to  nature  to  think  a  man  should  be  bound 
to  fulfil   the  humor  of  a  woman,  what  arms  he  should 


ESCAPE   FROM    DEATH.  I  29 

carry  ;  but  you  see  God  will  have  it  so,  that  a  woman 
should  overcome  a  man.  What  with  Delilah's  flattery, 
and  with  her  mournful  tears,  they  must  and  will  have 
their  desire,  when  the  hand  of  God  goes  along  in  the 
matter  ;  and  this  is  to  accomplish  his  own  will.  There- 
fore let  the  clamor  be  quenched  I  daily  hear  in  my 
ears,  that  New-England  men  usurp  over  their  wives, 
and  keep  them  in  servile  subjection.  The  country  is 
wronged  in  this  matter,  as  in  many  things  else.  Let 
this  precedent  satisfy  the  doubtful,  for  that  comes  from 
the  example  of  a  rude  soldier.  If  they  be  so  courte- 
ous to  their  wives,  as  to  take  their  advice  in  warlike 
matters,  how  much  more  kind  is  the  tender,  affection- 
ate husband  to  honor  his  wife  as  the  weaker  vessel  ! 
Yet  mistake  not.  I  say  not  that  they  are  bound  to 
call  their  wives  in  council,  though  they  are  bound  to 
take  their  private  advice  (so  far  as  they  see  it  make  for 
their  advantage  and  their  good).  Instance  Abraham. 
But  to  the  matter  :  The  arrows  flying  thick  about  us, 
we  made  haste  to  the  shore  ;  but  the  surf  of  the  sea 
being  great,  hindered  us,  so  as  we  could  scarce  dis- 
charge a  musket,  but  were  forced  to  make  haste  to 
land.  Drawing  near  the  shore  through  the  strength 
of  wind,  and  the  hollowness  of  the  sea,  we  durst  not 
adventure  to  run  ashore,  but  were  forced  to  wade  up 
to  the  middle  ;  but  once  having  got  up  off  our  legs, 
we  gave  fire  upon  them.  They  finding  our  bullets  to 
outreach  their  arrows,  they  fled  before  us.  In  the 
meanwhile  Colonel  Hindecot  made  to  the  shore,  and 
some  of  this  number  also  repulsed  him  at  his  landing, 
but  hurt  no  one.  We  thought  they  would  stand  it 
out  with  us,  but  they  perceiving  we  were  in  earnest, 
fled,  and  left  their  wigwams,  or  houses,  and  provision 


130  JOHN    UNDERHILL. 

to  the  use  of  our  soldiers.  Having  set  forth  our  sen- 
tinels, and  laid  out  our  pardues,  we  betook  ourselves 
to  the  guard,  expecting  hourly  they  would  fall  upon 
us  ;  but  they  observed  the  old  rule,  **  'Tis  good 
sleeping  in  a  whole  skin,"  and  left  us  free  from  an 
alarm. 


THE  RESULTS  OF  AN  EMBASSY. 

[From  the  Same.] 

The  Pequeats  having  slain  one  Captain  Norton, 
and  Captain  Stone,  with  seven  more  of  their  company, 
order  was  given  us  to  visit  them,  sailing  along  the 
Nahanticot  shore  with  five  vessels.  The  Indians, 
spying  of  us,  came  running  in  multitudes  along  the 
water-side,  crying,  "  What  cheer,  Englishmen,  what 
cheer?  What  do  you  come  for?"  They,  not 
thinking  we  intended  war,  went  on  cheerfully  until 
they  came  to  Pequeat  river.  We,  thinking  it  the 
best  way,  did  forbear  to  answer  them  ;  first,  that  we 
might  the  better  be  able  to  run  through  the  work  ; 
secondly,  that  by  delaying  of  them,  we  might  drive  them 
in  security,  to  the  end  we  might  have  the  more  ad- 
vantage of  them.  But  they,  seeing  we  would  make 
no  answer,  kept  on  their  course,  and  cried,  "What, 
Englishmen,  what  cheer,  what  cheer,  are  you  hog- 
gery,  will  you  cram  us  ?  "  That  is,  f*  Are  you  angry, 
will  you  kill  us,  and  do  you  come  to  fight  ?  "  That 
night  the  Nanhanticot  Indians  and  the  Pequeats  made 
fires  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  fearing  we  would  land 
in  the  night.  They  made  most  doleful  and  woful 
cries  all  the  night,  (so  that  we  could  scarce  rest,) 


RESULTS   OF   AN    EMBASSY.  131 

hallowing  one  to  another,  and  giving  the  word  from 
place  to  place,  to  gather  their  forces  together,  fearing 
the  English  were  come  to  war  against  them. 

The  next  morning  they  sent  early  aboard  an 
ambassador,  a  grave  senior,  a  man  of  good  under- 
standing, portly  carriage,  grave  and  majestical  in  his 
expressions.  He  demanded  of  us  what  the  end  of 
our  coming  was.  To  which  we  answered,  that  the 
governors  of  the  Bay  sent  us  to  demand  the  heads  of 
those  persons  that  had  slain  Captain  Norton  and  Cap- 
tain Stone,  and  the  rest  of  their  company,  and  that  it 
was  not  the  custom  of  the  English  to  suffer  murderers 
to  live  ;  and  therefore,  if  they  desired  their  own  peace 
and  welfare,  they  will  peaceably  answer  our  expecta- 
tion, and  give  us  the  heads  of  the  murderers. 

They  being  a  witty  and  ingenious  nation,  their 
ambassador  labored  to  excuse  the  matter,  and  an- 
swered :  "  We  know  not  that  any  of  ours  have 
slain  any  English.  True  it  is,"  saith  he,  "  we  have 
slain  such  a  number  of  men  ;  but  consider  the  ground 
of  it.  Not  long  before  the  coming  of  these  English 
into  the  river,  there  was  a  certain  vessel  that  came  to 
us  in  way  of  trade.  We  used  them  well,  and  traded 
with  them,  and  took  them  to  be  such  as  would  not 
wrong  us  in  the  least  matter.  But  our  sachem  or 
prince  coming  aboard,  they  laid  a  plot  how  they 
might  destroy  him  ;  which  plot  discovereth  itself  by 
the  event,  as  followeth  :  They  keeping  their  boat 
aboard,  and  not  desirous  of  our  company,  gave  us 
leave  to  stand  hallooing  ashore,  that  they  might  work 
their  mischievous  plot.  But  as  we  stood  they  called 
to  us,  and  demanded  of  us  a  bushel  of  wampam-peke, 
which  is  their  money.       This  they  demanded  for  his 


132  JOHN    UNDERHILL. 

ransom.  This  peal  did  ring  terrible  in  our  ears,  to 
demand  so  much  for  the  life  of  our  prince,  whom  we 
thought  was  in  the  hands  of  honest  men,  and  we  had 
never  wronged  them.  But  we  saw  there  was  no 
remedy  ;  their  expectation  must  be  granted,  or  else 
they  would  not  send  him  ashore,  which  they  promised 
they  would  do  if  we  would  answer  their  desires. 
We  sent  them  so  much  aboard,  according  to  demand, 
and  they,  according  to  their  promise,  sent  him  ashore, 
but  first  slew  him.  This  much  exasperated  our  spirits, 
and  made  us  vow  a  revenge.  Suddenly  after  came  these 
captains  with  a  vessel  into  the  river,  and  pretended  to 
trade  with  us,  as  the  former  did.  We  did  not  discoun- 
tenance them  for  the  present,  but  took  our  opportunity 
and  came  aboard."  The  sachem's  son  succeeding  his 
father,  was  the  man  that  came  into  the  cabin  of  Captain 
Stone,  and  Captain  Stone  having  drunk  more  than  did 
him  good,  fell  backwards  on  the  bed  asleep.  The  saga- 
more took  his  opportunity,  and  having  a  little  hatchet 
under  his  garment,  therewith  knocked  him  in  the  head. 
Some  being  upon  the  deck  and  others  under,  suspected 
some  such  thing  ;  for  the  rest  of  the  Indians  that 
were  aboard  had  orders  to  proceed  against  the  rest  at 
one  time  ;  but  the  English,  spying  treachery,  run 
immediately  into  the  cook-room,  and,  with  a  fire- 
brand, had  thought  to  have  blown  up  the  Indians  by 
setting  fire  to  the  powder.  These  devil's  instruments 
spying  this  plot  of  the  English,  leaped  overboard  as 
the  powder  was  a-firing,  and  saved  themselves  ;  but 
all  the  English  were  blown  up.  This  was  the  man- 
ner of  their  bloody  action.  Saith  the  ambassador  to 
us,  M  Could  ye  blame  us  for  revenging  so  cruel  a 
murder  ?  for  we  distinguished  not  between  the  Dutch 


RESULTS   OF   AN    EMBASSY.  I33 

and  English,  but  took  them  to  be  one  nation,  and 
therefore  we  do  not  conceive  that  we  wronged  you, 
for  they  slew  our  king  ;  and  thinking  these  captains 
to  be  of  the  same  nation  and  people  as  those  that  slew 
him,  made  us  set  upon  this  course  of  revenge." 

Our  answer  was  :  f*  They  were  able  to  distinguish 
between  Dutch  and  English,  having  had  sufficient 
experience  of  both  nations  ;  and  therefore,  seeing  you 
have  slain  the  king  of  England's  subjects,  we  come  to 
demand  an  account  of  their  blood,  for  we  ourselves 
are  liable  to  account  for  them." 

The  answer  of  the  ambassador  was  :  f*  We  know 
no  difference  between  the  Dutch  and  the  English  ; 
they  are  both  strangers  to  us  ;  we  took  them  to  be  all 
one  ;  therefore  we  crave  pardon  ;  we  have  not  wil- 
fully wronged  the  English." 

"This  excuse  will  not  serve  our  turns,  for  we 
have  sufficient  testimony  that  you  know  the  English 
from  the  Dutch.  We  must  have  the  heads  of  those 
persons  that  have  slain  ours,  or  else  we  will  fight  with 
you." 

He  answered  :  "  Understanding  the  ground  of 
your  coming,  I  will  entreat  you  to  give  me  liberty  to 
go  ashore,  and  I  shall  inform  the  body  of  the  people 
what  your  intent  and  resolution  is  ;  and  if  you  will 
stay  aboard,  I  will  bring  you  a  sudden  answer." 

We  did  grant  him  liberty  to  get  ashore,  and  our- 
selves followed  suddenly  after  before  the  war  was  pro- 
claimed. He  seeing  us  land  our  forces,  came  with  a 
message  to  entreat  us  to  come  no  nearer,  but  stand  in 
a  valley,  which  had  between  us  and  them  an  ascent, 
that  took  our  sight  from  them  ;  but  they  might  see 
us  to  hurt  us,  to  our  prejudice.      Thus,  from  the  first 


134  JOHN    UNDERHILL. 

beginning  to  the  end  of  the  action,  they  carried  them- 
selves very  subtlely  ;  but  we,  not  willing  to  be  ai 
their  direction,  marched  up  to  the  ascent,  having  set 
our  men  in  battalia.  He  came  and  told  us  he  had 
inquired  for  the  sachem,  that  we  might  come  to  a 
parley  ;  but  neither  of  both  of  the  princes  were  at 
home  ;   they  were  gone  to  Long  Island. 

Our  reply  was  :  "  We  must  not  be  put  off  thus  ; 
we  know  the  sachem  is  in  the  plantation,  and  there- 
fore bring  him  to  us,  that  we  may  speak  with  him,  or 
else  we  will  beat  up  the  drum,  and  march  through 
the  country  and  spoil  your  corn." 

His  answer  :  "If  you  will  but  stay  a  little  while, 
I  will  step  to  the  plantation  and  seek  for  them." 

We  gave  them  leave  to  take  their  own  course,  and 
used  as  much  patience  as  ever  men  might,  considering 
the  gross  abuse  they  offered  us,  holding  us  above  an 
hour  in  vain  hopes.  They  sent  an  Indian  to  tell  us 
that  Mommenoteck  was  found,  and  would  appear 
before  us  suddenly.  This  brought  us  to  a  new  stand 
the  space  of  an  hour  more.  There  came  a  third 
Indian  persuading  us  to  have  a  little  further  patience, 
and  he  would  not  tarry,  for  he  had  assembled  the 
body  of  the  Pequeats  together,  to  know  who  the  par- 
ties were  that  had  slain  these  Englishmen.  But  see- 
ing that  they  did  in  this  interim  convey  away  their 
wives  and  children,  and  bury  their  chiefest  goods,  we 
perceived  at  length  they  would  fly  from  us  ;  but  we 
were  patient  and  bore  with  them,  in  expectation  to 
have  the  greater  blow  upon  them.  The  last  messen- 
ger brought  us  this  intelligence  from  the  sachem,  that 
if  we  would  but  lay  down  our  arms,  and  approach 
about  thirty  paces  from  them,  and  meet   the  heathen 


ATTACK   ON    THE    INDIAN    FORT.      1 35 

prince,  he  would  cause  his  men  to  do  the  like,  and 
then  we  shall  come  to  a  parley. 

But  we  seeing  their  drift  was  to  get  our  arms,  we 
rather  chose  to  beat  up  the  drum  and  bid  them  battle. 
Marching  into  a  champaign  field,  we  displayed  our 
colors  ;  but  none  would  come  near  us,  but,  standing 
remotely  off,  did  laugh  at  us  for  our  patience.  We 
suddenly  set  upon  our  march,  and  gave  fire  to  as 
many  as  we  could  come  near,  firing  their  wigwams, 
spoiling  their  corn,  and  many  other  necessaries  that 
they  had  buried  in  the  ground  we  raked  up,  which 
the  soldiers  had  for  booty.  Thus  we  spent  the  day 
burning  and  spoiling  the  country.  Towards  night 
embarked  ourselves.  The  next  morning,  landing  on 
the  Nahanticot  shore,  where  we  were  served  in  like 
nature,  no  Indians  would  come  near  us,  but  run  from 
us,  as  the  deer  from  the  dogs.  But  having  burnt 
and  spoiled  what  we  could  light  on,  we  embarked 
our  men  and  set  sail  for  the  Bay.  Having  ended  this 
exploit,  came  off",  having  one  man  wounded  in  the 
leg  ;  but  certain  numbers  of  theirs  slain,  and  many 
wounded. 

This  was  the  substance  of  the  first  year's  service. 


THE    ATTACK    ON  THE    INDIAN    FORT. 

[From  the  Same.] 

Let  the  ends  and  aims  of  a  man  be  good,  and  he 
may  proceed  with  courage.  The  bush  may  be  in  the 
fire,  but  so  long  as  God  appears  to  Moses  out  of  the 
bush,  there  is  no  great  danger.  More  good  than  hurt 
will  come  out  of  it.      Christ  knows  how   to  honor 


136  JOHN    UNDERHILL. 

himself,  and  to  do  his  people  good,  though  it  be  by 
contrary  means,  which  reason  will  not  fathom.  Look 
but  to  faith,  and  that  will  make  us  see  plainly,  that 
though  afflictions  for  the  present  are  grievous,  as 
doubtless  it  was  with  these  two  captive  maids,1  yet 
sweet  and  comfortable  is  the  issue  with  all  Gods's 
saints,  as  it  was  with  them.      But  to  go  on. 

Having  embarqued  our  soldiers,  we  weighed  anchor 
at  Seabrooke  Fort,  and  set  sail  for  the  Narraganset 
Bay,  deluding  the  Pequeats  thereby,  for  they  expected 
us  to  fall  into  Pequeat  River;  but  crossing  their  expec- 
tation, bred  in  them  a  security:  we  landed  our  men 
in  the  Narraganset  Bay,  and  marched  over  land  above 
two  days  journey  before  we  came  to  Pequeat;  quar- 
tering the  last  night's  march  within  two  miles  of  the 
place,  we  set  forth  about  one  of  the  clock  in  the 
morning,  having  sufficient  intelligence  that  they  knew 
nothing  of  our  coming.  Drawing  near  to  the  Fort 
yielded  up  ourselves  to  God,  and  entreated  his  assist- 
ance in  so  weighty  an  enterprise.  We  set  on  our 
march  to  surround  the  Fort,  Captain  John  Mason, 
approaching  to  the  west  end,  where  it  had  an  en- 
trance to  pass  into  it,  myself  marching  to  the  south- 
side,  surrounding  the  fort ;  placing  the  Indians,  for  we 
had  about  three  hundred  of  them,  without  side  of  our 
soldiers  in  a  ring  battalia,  giving  a  volley  of  shot  upon 
the  fort.  So  remarkable  it  appeared  to  us,  as  we  could 
not  but  admire  at  the  providence  of  God  in  it,  that 
soldiers  so  unexpert  in  the  use  of  their  arms,  should 
give  so  complete  a  volley,  as  though  the  finger  of  God 
had  touched  both  match  and  flint:   which  volley  being 

1  English  girls  taken  by  the  Pequots  and  subsequently  freed  by 
exchange. 


ATTACK   ON    THE    INDIAN    FORT.      1 37 

given  at  break  of  day,  and  themselves  fast  asleep  for 
the  most  part,  bred  in  them  such  a  terror,  that  they 
brake  forth  into  a  most  doleful  cry,  so  as  if  God  had 
net  fitted  the  hearts  of  men  for  the  service,  it  would 
have  bred  in  them  a  commiseration  towards  them. 
But  every  man  being  bereaved  of  pity  fell  upon  the 
work  without  compassion,  considering  the  blood  they 
had  shed  of  our  native  country-men,  and  how  bar- 
barously they  had  dealt  with  them,  and  slain  first  and 
last  about  thirty  persons.  Having  given  fire,  we 
approached  near  to  the  entrance  which  they  had 
stopped  full,  with  arms  of  trees,  or  brakes.  Myself 
approaching  to  the  entrance  found  the  work  too  heavy 
for  me,  to  draw  out  all  those  which  were  strongly 
forced  in.  We  gave  order  to  one  Master  Hedge,  and 
some  other  soldiers  to  pull  out  those  brakes,  having 
this  done,  and  laid  them  between  me  and  the  entrance, 
and  without  order  themselves,  proceeded  first  on  the 
south  end  of  the  fort.  But  remarkable  it  was  to  many 
of  us  ;  men  that  run  before  they  are  sent,  most  com- 
monly have  an  ill  reward.  Worthy  reader,  let  me 
entreat  you  to  have  a  more  charitable  opinion  of  me 
(though  unworthy  to  be  better  thought  of)  than  is 
reported  in  the  other  book.  You  may  remember  there 
is  a  passage  unjustly  laid  upon  me,  that  when  we 
should  come  to  the  entrance,  I  should  put  forth  this 
question:  Shall  we  enter?  Others  should  answer  again; 
What  came  we  hither  for  else  ?  It  is  well  known  to 
many,  it  was  never  my  practice  in  time  of  my  com- 
mand, when  we  are  in  garrison,  much  to  consult 
with  a  private  soldier,  or  to  ask  his  advice  in  point 
of  war,  much  less  in  a  matter  of  so  great  a  moment 
as  that  was,  which  experience  had  often  taught  me, 


138  JOHN    UNDERHILL. 

was  not  a  time  to  put  forth  such  a  question,  and 
therefore  pardon  him  that  hath  given  the  wrong  infor- 
mation. Having  our  swords  in  our  right  hand,  our 
carbines  or  muskets  in  our  left  hand,  we  approached 
the  fort,  Master  Hedge  being  shot  through  both 
arms,  and  more  wounded.  Though  it  be  not  com- 
mendable for  a  man  to  make  mention  of  any  thing 
that  might  tend  to  his  own  honor  ;  yet  because  I 
would  have  the  providence  of  God  observed,  and  his 
name  magnified,  as  well  for  myself  as  others,  I  dare 
not  omit,  but  let  the  world  know,  that  deliverance 
was  given  to  us  that  command,  as  well  as  to  private 
soldiers.  Captain  Mason  and  myself  entering  into 
the  wigwams,  he  was  shot  and  received  many  arrows 
against  his  head-piece,  God  preserved  him  from  any 
wounds  ;  myself  received  a  shot  in  the  left  hip, 
through  a  sufficient  buff  coat,  that  if  I  had  not  been 
supplied  with  such  a  garment,  the  arrow  would  have 
pierced  through  me  ;  another  I  received  between 
neck  and  shoulders,  hanging  in  the  linen  of  my  head- 
piece. Others  of  our  soldiers  were  shot,  some  through 
the  shoulders,  some  in  the  face,  some  in  the  head, 
some  in  the  legs  :  Captain  Mason  and  myself  losing 
each  of  us  a  man,  and  had  near  twenty  wounded. 
Most  courageously  these  Pequeats  behaved  themselves: 
but  seeing  the  fort  was  too  hot  for  us,  we  devised  a 
way  how  we  might  save  ourselves  and  prejudice  them. 
Captain  Mason,  entering  into  a  wigwam,  brought  out 
a  fire-brand,  after  he  had  wounded  many  in  the  house. 
Then  he  set  fire  on  the  west-side  where  he  entered, 
myself  set  fire  on  the  south  end  with  a  train  of  pow- 
der, the  fires  of  both  meeting  in  the  centre  of  the  fort 
blazed  most  terribly,  and  burnt  all  in  the  space  of  half 


ATTACK    ON    THE    INDIAN    FORT.      1 39 

an  hour.  Many  courageous  fellows  were  unwilling  to 
come  out,  and  fought  most  desperately  through  the 
palisadoes,  so  as  they  were  scorched  and  burnt  with 
the  very  flame,  and  were  deprived  of  their  arms,  in 
regard  the  fire  burnt  their  very  bowstrings,  and  so  per- 
ished valiantly.  Mercy  they  did  deserve  for  their 
valor,  could  we  have  had  opportunity  to  have  be- 
stowed it.  Many  were  burnt  in  the  fort,  both  men, 
women,  and  children.  Others  forced  out,  and  came 
in  troops  to  the  Indians,  twenty  and  thirty  at  a  time, 
which  our  soldiers  received  and  entertained  with  the 
point  of  the  sword.  Down  fell  men,  women,  and 
children  :  those  that  scaped  us,  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  Indians,  that  were  in  the  rear  of  us ;  it  is  reported 
by  themselves,  that  there  were  about  four  hundred 
souls  in  this  fort,  and  not  above  five  of  them  escaped 
out  of  our  hands.  Great  and  doleful  was  the  bloody 
sight  to  the  view  of  young  soldiers  that  never  had  been 
in  war,  to  see  so  many  souls  lie  gasping  on  the 
ground  so  thick  in  some  places,  that  you  could  hardly 
pass  along.  It  may  be  demanded,  Why  should  you 
be  so  furious  (as  some  have  said)  should  not  Chris- 
tians have  more  mercy  and  compassion  ?  But  I  would 
refer  you  to  David's  war,  when  a  people  is  grown  to 
such  a  height  of  blood,  and  sin  against  God  and  man, 
and  all  confederates  in  the  action,  there  he  hath  no 
respect  to  persons,  but  harrows  them,  and  saws  them, 
and  puts  them  to  the  sword,  and  the  most  terriblest 
death  that  may  be  :  sometimes  the  Scripture  declar- 
eth  women  and  children  must  perish  with  their  par- 
ents ;  some  time  the  case  alters  :  but  we  will  not 
dispute  it  now.  We  had  sufficient  light  from  the 
word  of  God  for  our  proceedings.    ... 


JOHN  MASON. 

John  Mason,  a  captain  in  the  Pequot  War,  was 
born,  in  England  in  1600,  and  died  at  Norwich,  Con- 
necticut, in  1672.  Like  Underhill,  his  companion  in 
arms,  he  had  seen  service  in  the  Netherlands  before  he 
came  to  America  in  1630.  After  five  years  at  Dor- 
chester, he  moved  to  Connecticut  and  was  one  of  the 
founders  of  Windsor.  Two  years  later,  the  attacks 
of  the  Pequot  Indians  on  the  colonists  called  for  re- 
taliatory measures  ;  and  Mason,  having  been  put  at  the 
head  of  ninety  men,  was  instructed  to  attack  the  Ind- 
ians at  the  mouth  of  the  Pequot,  now  the  Thames 
River.  Securing  the  cooperation  of  the  Mohegan 
and  Narragansett  Indians,  timid  and  worthless  allies,  he 
attacked  and  destroyed  the  Pequot  forts  on  the  Mystic. 
This  and  subsequent  engagements  practically  annihi- 
lated the  tribe  in  Connecticut,  and  there  was  peace  for 
forty  years,  for  more  than  thirty  of  which  Mason  was 
major  of  the  colonial  troops,  and  from  1660  to  1670 
Deputy  Governor  of  Connecticut.  He  lived  first  at 
Saybrook,  then  at  Norwich,  exercising  also  the  func- 
tions of  a  magistrate.  His  account  of  the  war,  pre- 
pared at  the  request  of  the  Colonial  General  Court, 
was  first  published  by  Increase  Mather  (1677).  It 
is  impersonal,  dignified,  yet  direct,  and  especially 
noteworthy  for  the  Joshua-like  confidence  which  it 
displays  in  Jehovah's  personal,  minute,  and  never 
140 


THE   TAKING   OF   THE    FORT.         141 

flagging  interest  in  the  Pequot  campaign.  A  life  of 
the  sturdy  soldier  may  be  found  in  Sparks'  American 
Biography. 

THE   TAKING   OF   THE    FORT   AT 
MYSTIC. 

[From   "  A  Brief  History  of  the  Pequot  War." 
Circa    1670.] 

.  .  .  There  was  a  great  commander  in  Belgia  who 
did  the  States  great  service  in  taking  a  city  ;  but  by 
going  beyond  his  commission  lost  his  life.  His  name 
was  Grubbendunk.  But  if  a  war  be  managed  duly  by 
judgment  and  discretion  as  is  requisite,  the  shows  are 
many  times  contrary  to  what  they  seem  to  pursue. 
Whereof  the  more  an  enterprise  is  dissembled  and  'kept 
secret,  the  more  facile  to  put  in  execution  ;  as  the 
proverb,  "  The  farthest  way  about  is  sometimes  the 
nearest  way  home."  I  shall  make  bold  to  present 
this  as  my  present  thoughts  in  this  case  :  In  matters 
of  war,  those  who  are  both  able  and  faithful  should  be 
improved  ;  and  then  bind  them  not  up  into  too  nar- 
row a  compass.  For  it  is  not  possible  for  the  wisest 
and  ablest  senator  to  foresee  all  accidents  and  occur- 
rents  that  fall  out  in  the  management  and  pursuit  of  a 
war  ;  nay,  although  possibly  he  might  be  trained  up 
in  military  affairs  ;  and  truly  much  less  can  he  have 
any  great  knowledge  who  hath  had  but  little  experience 
therein.  What  shall  I  say  ?  God  led  his  people 
through  many  difficulties  and  turnings  ;  yet  by  more 
than  an  ordinary  hand  of  providence  he  brought  them 
to  Canaan  at  last. 


142  JOHN    MASON. 

On  Friday  morning  we  set  sail  for  Narragansett 
Bay,  and  on  Saturday  toward  evening  we  arrived  at 
our  desired  port,  there  we  kept  the  Sabbath. 

On  the  Monday  the  wind  blew  so  hard  at  north- 
west that  we  could  not  -go  on  shore  ;  as  also  on  the 
Tuesday  until  sunset  ;  at  which  time  Captain  Mason 
landed  and  marched  up  to  the  place  of  the  chief  sa- 
chem's residence  ;  who  told  the  sachem,  "  That  we  had 
not  an  opportunity  to  acquaint  him  with  our  coming 
armed  in  his  country  sooner  ;  yet  not  doubting  but  it 
would  be  well  accepted  by  him,  there  being  love  be- 
twixt himself  and  us  ;  well  knowing  also  that  the 
Pequots  and  themselves  were  enemies,  and  that  he 
could  not  be  unacquainted  with  those  intolerable 
wrongs  and  injuries  these  Pequots  had  lately  done 
unto  the  English  ;  and  that  we  were  now  come,  God 
assisting,  to  avenge  ourselves  upon  them  ;  and  that 
we  did  only  desire  free  passage  through  his  country." 
Who  returned  us  this  answer,  %3  That  he  did  accept  of 
our  coming,  and  did  also  approve  of  our  design  ;  only 
he  thought  our  numbers  were  too  weak  to  deal  with  the 
enemy,  who  were  (as  he  said)  very  great  captains  and 
men  skilful  in  war."  Thus  he  spake  somewhat 
slighting  of  us. 

On  the  Wednesday  morning,  we  marched  from 
thence  to  a  place  called  Nayanticke,  it  being  about 
eighteen  or  twenty  miles  distant,  where  another  of 
those  Narragansett  sachems  lived  in  a  fort  ;  it  being 
a  frontier  to  the  Pequots.  They  carried  very  proudly 
towards  us  ;  not  permitting  any  of  us  to  come  into 
their  fort. 

We  beholding  their  carriage  and  the  falsehood  of 
Indians,  and   fearing  least  they  might  discover  us  to 


THE    TAKING   OF   THE    FORT.         I43 

the  enemy,  especially  they  having  many  times  some 
of  their  near  relations  among  their  greatest  foes  ;  we 
therefore  caused  a  strong  guard  to  be  set  about  their 
fort,  giving  charge  that  no  Indian  should  be  suffered 
to  pass  in  or  out.  We  also  informed  the  Indians, 
that  none  of  them  should  stir  out  of  the  fort  upon  peril 
of  their  lives  :  so  as  they  would  not  suffer  any  of  us 
to  come  into  their  fort,  so  we  would  not  suffer  any 
of  them  to  go  out  of  the  fort. 

There  we  quartered  that  night,  the  Indians  not 
offering  to  stir  out  all  the  while. 

In  the  morning  there  came  to  us  several  of  Mian- 
tomo  his  men,  who  told  us,  they  were  come  to 
assist  us  in  our  expedition,  which  encouraged  divers 
Indians  of  that  place  to  engage  also  ;  who  suddenly 
gathering  into  a  ring,  one  by  one,  making  solemn 
protestations  how  gallantly  they  would  demean  them- 
selves, and  how  many  men  they  would  kill. 

On  the  Thursday  about  eight  of  the  clock  in  the 
morning,  we  marched  thence  towards  Pequot,  with 
about  five  hundred  Indians  ;  but  through  the  heat  of 
the  weather  and  want  of  provisions  some  of  our  men 
fainted.  And  having  marched  about  twelve  miles, 
we  came  to  Pawcatuck  River,  at  a  ford  where  our  Ind- 
ians told  us  the  Pequots  did  usually  fish  ;  there  mak- 
ing a  halt,  we  stayed  some  small  time,  the  Narragansett 
Indians  manifesting  great  fear,  insomuch  that  many  of 
them  returned,  although  they  had  frequently  despised 
us,  saying  that  we  durst  not  look  upon  a  Pequot,  but 
themselves  would  perform  great  things  ;  though  we 
had  often  told  them  that  we  came  on  purpose  and 
were  resolved,  God  assisting,  to  see  the  Pequots,  and 
to  fight  with  them,  before  we  returned,  though  we 


144  JOHN   MASON. 

perished.  I  then  enquired  of  Onkos,  what  he  thought 
the  Indians  would  do  ?  Who  said,  The  Narragan- 
setts  would  all  leave  us,  but  as  for  himself  he  would 
never  leave  us  :  and  so  it  proved.  For  which  ex- 
pressions and  some  other  speeches  of  his,  I  shall  never 
forget  him.  Indeed  he  was  a  great  friend  and  did 
great  service. 

And  after  we  had  refreshed  ourselves  with  our 
mean  commons,  we  marched  about  three  miles,  and 
came  to  a  field  which  had  lately  been  planted  with 
Indian  corn.  There  we  made  another  halt,  and 
called  our  council,  supposing  we  drew  near  to  the 
enemy  :  and  being  informed  by  the  Indians  that  the 
enemy  had  two  forts  almost  impregnable  ;  but  we 
were  not  at  all  discouraged,  but  rather  animated,  in- 
somuch that  we  were  resolved  to  assault  both  their 
forts  at  once.  But  understanding  that  one  of  them 
was  so  remote  that  we  could  not  come  up  with  it 
before  midnight,  though  we  marched  hard  ;  whereat 
we  were  much  grieved,  chiefly  because  the  greatest 
and  bloodiest  sachem  there  resided,  whose  name  was 
Sassacous  ;  we  were  then  constrained,  being  exceed- 
ingly spent  in  our  march  with  extreme  heat  and  want 
of  necessaries,  to  accept  of  the  nearest. 

We  then  marching  on  in  a  silent  manner,  the 
Indians  that  remained  fell  all  into  the  rear,  who  for- 
merly kept  the  van  (being  possessed  with  great  fear); 
we  continued  our  march  till  about  one  hour  in  the 
night  :  and  coming  to  a  little  swamp  between  two 
hills,  there  we  pitched  our  little  camp  ;  much  wearied 
with  hard  travel,  keeping  great  silence,  supposing  we 
were  very  near  the  fort  ;  as  our  Indians  informed  us  ; 
which  proved  otherwise.      The  rocks  were  our  pil- 


THE  TAKING  OF  THE  FORT.    1 45 

lows  ;  yet  rest  was  pleasant.  The  night  proved 
comfortable,  being  clear  and  moonlight.  We  ap- 
pointed our  guards,  and  placed  our  sentinels  at  some 
distance  ;  who  heard  the  enemy  singing  at  the  fort, 
who  continued  that  strain  until  midnight,  with  great 
insulting  and  rejoicing,  as  we  were  afterwards  in- 
formed. They  seeing  our  pinnaces  sail  by  them 
some  days  before,  concluded  we  were  afraid  of  them 
and  durst  not  come  near  them  ;  the  burden  of  their 
song  tending  to  that  purpose. 

In  the  morning,  we  awaking  and  seeing  it  very 
light,  supposing  it  had  been  day,  and  so  we  might 
have  lost  our  opportunity,  having  purposed  to  make 
our  assault  before  day,  roused  the  men  with  all  expe- 
dition, and  briefly  commended  ourselves  and  design 
to  God,  thinking  immediately  to  go  to  the  assault  ; 
the  Indians  showing  us  a  path,  told  us  that  it  led 
directly  to  the  fort.  We  held  on  our  march  about  two 
miles,  wondering  that  we  came  not  to  the  fort,  and 
fearing  we  might  be  deluded.  But  seeing  corn 
newly  planted  at  the  foot  of  a  great  hill,  supposing 
the  fort  was  not  far  off,  a  champaign  country  being 
round  about  us,  then  making  a  stand,  gave  the  word 
for  some  of  the  Indians  to  come  up.  At  length 
Onkos  and  one  Wequash  appeared.  We  demanded  of 
them,  Where  was  the  fort  ?  They  answered,  On 
the  top  of  that  hill.  Then  we  demanded,  Where 
were  the  rest  of  the  Indians  ?  They  answered,  Be- 
hind, exceedingly  afraid.  We  wished  them  to  tell 
the  rest  of  their  fellows,  that  they  should  by  no 
means  fly,  but  stand  at  what  distance  they  pleased, 
and  see  whether  Englishmen  would  now  fight  or  not. 
When  Captain  Underhill  came  up,  who  marched  in 


I46  JOHN    MASON. 

the  rear  ;  and  commending  ourselves  to  God,  divided 
our  men,  there  being  two  entrances  into  the  fort, 
intending  to  enter  both  at  once  ;  Captain  Mason 
leading  up  to  that  on  the  north-east  side,  who  ap- 
proaching within  one  rod,  heard  a  dog  bark  and  an 
Indian  crying  "  Owanux  !  Owanux  !"  which  is 
«'  Englishmen  !  Englishmen  !  "  We  called  up  our 
forces  with  all  expedition,  gave  fire  upon  them 
through  the  palisado  ;  the  Indians  being  in  a  dead, 
indeed  their  last  sleep.  Then  we  wheeling  off  fell 
upon  the  main  entrance,  which  was  blocked  up  with 
bushes  about  breast  high,  over  which  the  captain  passed, 
intending  to  make  good  the  entrance,  encouraging  the 
rest  to  follow.  Lieutenant  Seeley  endeavored  to 
enter  ;  but  being  somewhat  cumbered,  stepped  back 
and  pulled  out  the  bushes  and  so  entered,  and  with 
him  about  sixteen  men.  We  had  formerly  con- 
cluded to  destroy  them  by  the  sword  and  save 
the  plunder. 

Whereupon  Captain  Mason  seeing  no  Indians, 
entered  a  wigwam  ;  where  he  was  beset  with  many 
Indians,  waiting  all  opportunities  to  lay  hands  on 
him,  but  could  not  prevail.  At  length  William 
Heydon  espying  the  breach  in  the  wigwam,  sup- 
posing some  English  might  be  there,  entered;  but  in 
his  entrance  fell  over  a  dead  Indian  ;  but  speedily 
recovering  himself,  the  Indians,  some  fled,  others 
crept  under  their  beds.  The  captain  going  out  of 
the  wigwam  saw  many  Indians  in  the  lane  or  street  ; 
he  making  towards  them,  they  fled,  were  pursued  to 
the  end  of  the  lane,  where  they  were  met  by  Edward 
Pattison,  Thomas  Barber,  with  some  others  ;  where 
seven  of  them  were  slain,  as  they  said.      The  cap- 


THE    TAKING   OF   THE    FORT.         I47 

tain  facing  about,  marched  a  slow  pace  up  the  lane 
he  came  down,  perceiving  himself  very  much  out  of 
breath  ;  and  coming  to  the  other  end  near  the  place 
where  he  first  entered,  saw  two  soldiers  standing 
close  to  the  palisado  with  their  swords  pointed  to 
the  ground.  The  captain  told  them  that  we  should 
never  kill  them  after  that  manner.  The  captain  also 
said,  We  must  burn  them  ;  and  immediately  stepping 
into  the  wigwam  where  he  had  been  before,  brought 
out  a  fire-brand,  and  putting  it  into  the  mats  with 
which  they  were  covered,  set  the  wigwams  on  fire. 
Lieutenant  Thomas  Bull  and  Nicholas  Omsted  be- 
holding, came  up  ;  and  when  it  was  thoroughly 
kindled,  the  Indians  ran  as  men  most  dreadfully 
amazed. 

And  indeed  such  a  dreadful  terror  did  the  Al- 
mighty let  fall  upon  their  spirits,  that  they  would 
fly  from  us  and  run  into  the  very  flames,  where 
many  of  them  perished.  And  when  the  fort  was 
thoroughly  fired,  command  was  given,  that  all 
should  fall  off  and  surround  the  fort  ;  which  was 
readily  attended  by  all  ;  only  one  Arthur  Smith 
being  so  wounded  that  he  could  not  move  out  of 
the  place,  who  was  happily  espied  by  Lieutenant 
Bull,  and  by  him  rescued. 

The  fire  was  kindled  on  the  north-east  side  to 
windward  ;  which  did  swiftly  overrun  the  fort,  to 
the  extreme  amazement  of  the  enemy,  and  great 
rejoicing  of  ourselves.  Some  of  them  climbing  to 
the  top  of  the  palisado  ;  others  of  them  running  into 
the  very  flames  ;  many  of  them  gathering  to  wind- 
ward, lay  pelting  at  us  with  their  arrows  ;  and  we 
repaid    them    with   our   small    shot.      Others  of  the 


148  JOHN    MASON. 

stoutest  issued  forth,  as  we  did  guess,  to  the  numbei 
of  forty,  who  perished  by  the  sword.    .    .    . 

Thus  were  they  now  at  their  wits'  end,  who  not 
many  hours  before  exalted  themselves  in  their  great 
pride,  threatening  and  resolving  the  utter  ruin  and 
destruction  of  all  the  English,  exulting  and  rejoicing 
with  songs  and  dances.  But  God  was  above  them, 
who  laughed  his  enemies  and  the  enemies  of  his 
people  to  scorn,  making  them  as  a  fiery  oven.  Thus 
were  the  stout-hearted  spoiled,  having  slept  their  last 
sleep,  and  none  of  their  men  could  find  their  hands. 
Thus  did  the  Lord  judge  among  the  heathen,  filling 
the  place  with  dead  bodies  ! 

And  here  we  may  see  the  just  judgment  of  God, 
in  sending  even  the  very  night  before  this  assault,  one 
hundred  and  fifty  men  from  their  other  fort,  to  join 
with  them  of  that  place,  who  were  designed,  as  some 
of  themselves  reported,  to  go  forth  against  the  Eng- 
lish, at  that  very  instant  when  this  heavy  stroke  came 
upon  them,  where  they  perished  with  their  fellows. 
So  that  the  mischief  they  intended  to  us,  came  upon 
their  own  pate.  They  were  taken  in  their  own 
snare,  and  we  through  mercy  escaped.  And  thus 
in  little  more  than  one  hour's  space  was  their  im- 
pregnable fort  with  themselves  utterly  destroyed,  to 
the  number  of  six  or  seven  hundred,  as  some  of 
themselves  confessed.  There  were  only  seven 
taken  captive,   and  about  seven  escaped. 

Of  the  English,  there  were  two  slain  outright,  and 
about  twenty  wounded.  Some  fainted  by  reason 
of  the  sharpness  of  the  weather,  it  being  a  cool 
morning,  and  the  want  of  such  comforts  and  neces- 
saries as  were  needful  in  such  a  case ;  especially  our 


THE    MASSACRE   OF    PAWCATUCK.      149 

surgeon  was  much  wanting,  whom  we  left  with  our 
barks  in  Narragansett  Bay,  who  had  order  there  to 
remain  until  the  night  before  our  intended  assault. 


THE    MASSACRE    OF    PAWCATUCK. 

[From  the  Same.] 

Thus  did  the  Lord  scatter  his  enemies  with  his 
strong  arm.  The  Pequots  now  became  a  prey  to  all 
Indians.  Happy  were  they  that  could  bring  in  their 
heads  to  the  English  ;  of  which  there  came  almost 
daily  to  Windsor,  or  Hartford.  But  the  Pequots 
growing  weary  thereof,  sent  some  of  the  chief  that 
survived  to  mediate  with  the  English  ;  offering  that 
if  they  might  but  enjoy  their  lives,  they  would  be- 
come the  English  vassals,  to  dispose  of  them  as  they 
pleased.  Which  was  granted  them.  Whereupon 
Onkos  and  Myantonimo  were  sent  for,  who  with 
the  Pequots  met  at  Hartford.  The  Pequots  being 
demanded,  How  many  of  them  were  then  living, 
answered,  About  one  hundred  and  eighty,  or  two 
hundred.  There  were  then  given  to  Onkos,  Sachem 
of  Moheag,  eighty  ;  to  Myantonimo,  Sachem  of 
Narragansett,  eighty  ;  and  to  Nynigrett,  twenty, 
when  he  should  satisfy  for  a  mare  of  Edward  Pom- 
roye's  killed  by  his  men.  The  Pequots  were  then 
bound  by  covenant  :  That  none  should  inhabit  their 
native  country,  nor  should  any  of  them  be  called 
Pequots  any  more,  but  Moheags  and  Narragansetts 
forever.  Shortly  after,  about  forty  of  them  went  to 
Moheag  ;    others    went    to    Long    Island  ;    the    rest 


15°  JOHN    MASON. 

settled  at  Paweatuck,  a  place  in  Pequot  country, 
contrary  to  their  late  covenant  and  agreement  with 
the  English. 

Which  Connecticut  taking  into  consideration,  and 
well  weighing  the  several  inconveniences  that  might 
ensue  ;  for  the  prevention  whereof,  they  sent  out 
forty  men  under  the  command  of  Captain  John 
Mason,  to  supplant  them,  by  burning  their  wig- 
wams, and  bringing  away  their  corn,  except  they 
would  desert  the  place  [Paweatuck]  ;  Onkos  with 
about  one  hundred  of  his  men  in  twenty  canoes, 
going  also  to  assist  in  the  service.    .    .    . 

We  were  so  suddenly  upon  them  that  they  had 
not  time  to  convey  away  their  goods.  We  viewed 
their  corn,  whereof  there  was  plenty,  it  being  their 
time  of  harvest  ;  and  coming  down  to  the  water-side 
to  our  pinnace  with  half  of  Onkos' s  his  men,  the 
rest  being  plundering  the  wigwams,  we  looking 
towards  a  hill  not  far  remote,  we  espied  about  sixty 
Indians  running  towards  us  ;  we  supposing  they 
were  our  absent  men,  the  Moheags  that  were  with 
us  not  speaking  one  word,  nor  moving  towards  them 
until  the  other  came  within  thirty  or  forty  paces  of 
them.  Then  they  ran  and  met  them  and  fell  on 
pell-mell  striking  and  cutting  with  bows,  hatchets, 
knives,  etc.,  after  their  feeble  manner.  Indeed  it 
did  hardly  deserve  the  name  of  fighting.  We  then 
endeavored  to  get  between  them  and  the  woods, 
that  so  we  might  prevent  their  flying  ;  which  they 
perceiving,  endeavored  speedily  to  get  off  under  the 
beach  :  we  made  no  shot  at  them,  nor  any  hostile 
attempt  upon  them.  Only  seven  of  them  who  were 
Nynigrett's  men,  were  taken.      Some  of  them  grow- 


THE    MASSACRE    AT    PAWCATUCK.      I51 

ing  very  outrageous,  whom  we  intended  to  have 
made  shorter  by  the  head,  and  being  about  to  put  it 
in  execution,  one  Otash,  a  sachem  of  Narragansett, 
brother  to  Myantonimo,  stepping  forth,  told  the  cap- 
tain, They  were  his  brother's  men,  and  that  he  was 
a  friend  to  the  English,  and  if  he  would  spare  their 
lives  we  should  have  as  many  murderers'  heads  in 
lieu  of  them  which  should  be  delivered  to  the  English. 
We  considering  that  there  was  no  blood  shed  as  yet, 
and  that  it  tended  to  peace  and  mercy,  granted  his 
desire  ;  and  so  delivered  them  to  Onkos  to  secure 
them  until  his  engagement  was  performed,  because 
our  prison  had  been  very  much  pestered  with  such 
creatures. 

We  then  drew  our  bark  into  a  creek,  the  better  to 
defend  her  ;  for  there  were  many  hundreds,  within 
five  miles,  waiting  upon  us.  There  we  quartered 
that  night.  In  the  morning,  as  soon  as  it  was  light, 
there  appeared  in  arms  at  least  three  hundred  Ind- 
ians on  the  other  side  the  creek.  Upon  which  we 
stood  to  our  arms  ;  which  they  perceiving,  some  of 
them  fled,  others  crept  behind  the  rocks  and  trees, 
not  one  of  them  to  be  seen.  We  then  called  to 
them,  saying,  We  desired  to  speak  with  them,  and 
that  we  would  down  our  arms  for  that  end.  Where- 
upon they  stood  up.  We  then  informed  them, 
That  the  Pequots  had  violated  their  promise  with  the 
English,  in  that  they  were  not  there  to  inhabit,  and 
that  we  were  sent  to  supplant  them.  They  answered, 
saying,  The  Pequots  were  good  men,  their  friends, 
and  they  would  fight  for  them  and  protect  them.  At 
which  we  were  somewhat  moved,  and  told  them,  It 
was  not  far  to  the  head  of  the  creek  where  we  would 


152  JOHN    MASON. 

meet  them,  and  then  they  might  try  what  they  could 
do  in  that  respect. 

They  then  replied,  That  they  would  not  fight  with 
Englishmen,  for  they  were  Spirits,  but  would  fight 
with  Onkos.  We  replied,  That  we  thought  it  was 
too  early  for  them  to  fight,  but  they  might  take  their 
opportunity  ;  we  should  be  burning  wigwams,  and 
carrying  corn  aboard  all  that  day.  And  presently 
beating  up  our  drum,  we  fired  the  wigwams  in  their 
view.  And  as  we  marched,  there  were  two  Indians 
standing  upon  a  hill  jeering  and  reviling  of  us.  Mr. 
Thomas  Stanton,  our  interpreter,  marching  at  liberty, 
desired  to  make  a  shot  at  them  ;  the  captain  demand- 
ing of  the  Indians,  What  they  were  ?  who  said,  They 
were  murderers  ;  then  the  said  Stanton  having  leave, 
let  fly,  shot  one  of  them  through  both  his  thighs  ; 
which  was  to  our  wonderment,  it  being  at  such  a  vast 
distance. 

We  then  loaded  our  bark  with  corn  ;  and  our 
Indians  their  canoes,  and  thirty  more  which  we  had 
taken,  with  kettles,  trays,  mats,  and  other  Indian 
luggage.  That  night  we  went  all  aboard,  and  set 
sail  homeward.  It  pleased  God  in  a  short  time  to 
bring  us  all  in  safety  to  the  place  of  our  abode;  al- 
though we  stroke  and  stuck  upon  a  rock.  The  way 
and  manner  how  God  dealt  with  us  in  our  delivery 
was  very  remarkable  ;  the  story  would  be  somewhat 
long  to  trouble  you  with  at  this  time,  and  therefore  I 
shall  forbear. 

Thus  we  may  see  how  the  face  of  God  is  set 
against  them  that  do  evil,  to  cut  off  the  remembrance 
of  them  from  the  earth.  Our  tongue  shall  talk  of 
thy  righteousness  all  the  day  long  ;  for  they  are  con- 


ADDITION. 


*53 


founded,  they  are  brought  to  shame  that  sought  our 
hurt  !  Blessed  be  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  who  only 
doth  wondrous  things  ;  and  blessed  be  his  holy  name 
forever  !  Let  the  whole  earth  be  rilled  with  his  glory  ! 
Thus  the  Lord  was  pleased  to  smite  our  enemies  in 
the  hinder  parts,  and  to  give  us  their  land  for  an 
inheritance.  Who  remembered  us  in  our  low  estate, 
and  redeemed  us  out  of  our  enemies'  hands.  Let 
us  therefore  praise  the  Lord  for  his  goodness  and  his 
wonderful  works  to  the  children  of  men  ! 


ADDITION. 

/  shall  add  a  word  or  two  by  way  of  Comment. 

Our  commons  were  very  short,  there  being  a  gen- 
eral scarcity  throughout  the  colony  of  ail  sorts  of  pro- 
vision, it  being  upon  our  first  arrival  at  the  place. 
We  had  but  one  pint  of  strong  liquors  among  us  in 
our  whole  march,  but  what  the  wilderness  afforded 
(the  bottle  of  liquor  being  in  my  hand)  ;  and  when 
it  was  empty,  the  very  smelling  to  the  bottle  would 
presently  recover  such  as  fainted  away,  which  hap- 
pened by  the  extremity  of  the  heat.  And  thus  we 
marched  on  in  an  uncouth  and  unknown  path  to  the 
English,  though  much  frequented  by  Indians.  And 
was  not  the  finger  of  God  in  all  this,  by  his  special 
providence  to  lead  us  along  in  the  way  we  should  go  ? 
Nay,  though  we  knew  not  where  their  forts  were, 
how  far  it  was  to  them,  nor  the  way  that  led  to  them, 
but  by  what  we  had  from  our  Indian  guides  ;  whom 
we  could  not  confide  in,  but  looked  at  them  as  uncer- 


154  JOHN    MASON. 

tain.  And  yet  notwithstanding  all  our  doubts,  we 
should  be  brought  on  the  very  fittest  season  ;  nay, 
and  which  is  yet  more,  that  we  should  be  carried  in 
our  march  among  a  treacherous  and  perfidious  people, 
yea,  in  our  allodgment  so  near  the  enemy,  all  night 
in  so  populous  a  country,  and  not  the  least  notice  of 
us,  seemeth  somewhat  strange,  and  more  than  ordi- 
nary. Nay,  that  we  should  come  to  their  very  doors: 
What  shall  J  say  ?  God  was  pleased  to  hide  us  in 
the  hollow  of  his  hand.  I  still  remember  a  speech 
of  Mr.  Hooker  at  our  going  aboard  :  That  they 
should  be  bread  for  us.  And  thus  when  the  Lord 
turned  the  captivity  of  his  people,  and  turned  the 
wheel  upon  their  enemies,  we  were  like  men  in  a 
dream  ;  then  was  our  mouth  filled  with  laughter,  and 
our  tongues  with  singing  ;  thus  we  may  say  the  Lord 
hath  done  great  things  for  us  among  the  heathen, 
whereof  we  are  glad.      Praise  ye  the  Lord  ! 

I  shall  mention  two  or  three  special  providences 
that  God  was  pleased  to  vouchsafe  to  particular  men  ; 
viz.  two  men  being  one  man's  servants,  namely, 
John  Dier  and  Thomas  Stiles,  were  both  of  them 
shot  in  the  knots  of  their  handkerchiefs,  being  about 
their  necks,  and  received  no  hurt.  Lieutenant  Seeley 
was  shot  in  the  eyebrow  with  a  flat-headed  arrow, 
the  point  turning  downwards  :  I  pulled  it  out  my- 
self. Lieutenant  Bull  had  an  arrow  shot  into  a  hard 
piece  of  cheese,  having  no  other  defence.  Which 
may  verify  the  old  saying,  "A  little  armor  would 
serve  if  a  man  knew  where  to  place  it."  Many 
such  providences  happened  ;  some  respecting  myself; 
but  since  there  is  none  that  witness  to  them,  I  shall 
forbear  to  mention  them. 


ADDITION.  155 

The  year  ensuing,  the  colony  being  in  extreme 
want  of  provision,  many  giving  twelve  shillings  for 
one  bushel  of  Indian  corn  ;  the  court  of  Connecticut 
employing  Captain  Mason,  Mr.  William  Wadsworth 
and  Deacon  Stebbin,  to  try  what  providence  would 
afford,  for  their  relief  in  this  great  strait.  Who,  not- 
withstanding some  discouragement  they  met  with 
from  some  English,  went  to  a  place  called  Pocom- 
tuck,  where  they  procured  so  much  corn  at  reason- 
able rates,  that  the  Indians  brought  down  to  Hartford 
and  Windsor  fifty  canoes  laden  with  corn  at  one  time. 
Never  was  the  like  known  to  this  day !  So  although 
the  Lord  was  pleased  to  show  his  people  hard  things  ; 
yet  did  he  execute  judgment  for  the  oppressed,  and 
gave  food  to  the  hungry.  Oh,  let  us  meditate  on 
the  great  works  of  God  !  ascribing  all  blessing  and 
praise  to  his  great  name,  for  all  his  great  goodness 
and  salvation  !     Amen,  Amen. 

FINIS. 


JOHN    COTTON. 

John  Cotton,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  of  the 
early  New  England  clergy,  was  born  in  Derby,  Eng- 
land in  1585,  and  died  in  Boston,  Massachusetts,  in 
1652.  Like  most  of  the  Puritan  divines  he  enjoyed 
a  university  education  at  Cambridge,  where  he  at- 
tained promotion  and  distinction,  being  especially 
noted  for  his  oratorical  and  rhetorical  abilities.  He 
was  ordained  priest,  and  became  vicar  at  Boston  in 
Lincolnshire  about  161 2,  a  position  which  he  kept 
for  more  than  twenty  years,  though  not  without  epis- 
copal intervention.  His  troubles  under  Laud's  regime 
culminated  in  his  flight  to  London  and  in  his  escape 
to  the  New  England  Boston  in  1633.  Within  a 
fortnight  he  was  appointed  teacher  in  the  First  Church, 
and  was  connected  with  that  congregation  till  his 
death.  Though  he  was  the  ripest  scholar  in  New 
England,  well  versed  in  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew 
and  grounded  in  the  Calvinistic  theology,  despite  his 
coquetting  with  Mrs.  Hutchinson's  anti-nomianism, 
his  style  is  so  lacking  in  attractive  qualities  as  to 
make  the  compliments  showered  on  him  by  con- 
temporaries almost  incomprehensible.  To  them  he 
was  an  Attic  Muse,  a  silver  trumpet,  Solon,  St. 
Paul  and  Polycarp  all  in  one.  Certainly  with  his 
nearly  fifty  books  he  was  an  indefatigable  writer, 
a  stimulus  to  provincial  scholars,  but  he  was  also 
156 


ADVICE   TO    COLONISTS.  1 57 

a  stimulus  to  controversial  intolerance.  In  his  great- 
est controversy,  that  with  Roger  Williams,  which 
produced  perhaps  his  most  important  book  «« The 
Bloody  Tenent  Washed  and  Made  White  in  the 
Blood  of  the  Lamb,"  the  world  has  pronounced  its 
verdict:  He  was  a  great  man,  the  foil  to  a  greater. 


ADVICE   TO    COLONISTS. 

[From  *'*  God's  Promise  to  H|is  Plantation, "  Lon- 
don, 1630.  A  Sermon  preached  as  a  Farewell 
to  Winthrop's  Company.] 

Use  1 .  To  exhort  all  that  are  planted  at  home, 
or  intend  to  plant  abroad,  to  look  well  to  your  plan- 
tation, as  you  desire  that  the  sons  of  wickedness 
may  not  afflict  you  at  home,  nor  enemies  abroad, 
look  that  you  be  right  planted,  and  then  you  need  not 
to  fear,  you  are  safe  enough  :  God  hath  spoken  it, 
I  will  plant  them,  and  they  shall  not  be  moved,  neither 
shall  the  sons  of  wickedness  afflict  them  any  more. 

Quest.    What  course  would  you  have  us  take  ? 

Answ.  Have  special  care  that  you  ever  have  the 
Ordinances  planted  amongst  you,  or  else  never  look 
for  security.  As  soon  as  God's  Ordinances  cease, 
your  security  ceaseth  likewise  ;  but  if  God  plant  his 
Ordinances  among  you,  fear  not,  he  will  maintain 
them.  Isay  4.  5,  6.  Upon  all  tbeir  glory  there 
shall  be  a  defence ;  that  is,  upon  all  God's  Ordinances: 
for  so  was  the  Ark  called  the  Glory  of  IsraeL  1  Sam. 
4.   22. 

Secondly,   have  a  care  to  be  implanted   into  the 


158  JOHN    COTTON. 

Ordinances,  that  the  word  may  be  ingrafted  into  you, 
and  you  into  it :  If  you  take  rooting  in  the  Ordinances, 
grow  up  thereby,  bring  forth  much  fruit,  continue 
and  abide  therein,  then  you  are  vineyard  of  red  wine, 
and  the  Lord  will  keep  you,  Lay  27.  2.  3.  that  no 
sons  of  violence  shall  destroy  you.  Look  into  all 
the  stories  whether  divine  or  human,  and  you  shall 
never  find  that  God  ever  rooted  out  a  people  that  had 
the  Ordinances  planted  amongst  them,  and  themselves 
planted  into  the  Ordinances  :  never  did  God  suffer 
such  plants  to  be  plucked  up  ;  on  all  their  glory  shall 
be  a  defence. 

Thirdly,  be  not  unmindful  of  our  Jerusalem  at 
home,  whether  you  leave  us,  or  stay  at  home  with 
us.  Oh  pray  for  the  peace  of  Jerusalem,  they  shall 
prosper  that  love  her.  Psal.  122.  6.  They  shall 
all  be  confounded  and  turned  back  that  hate  Sion, 
Psal.  129.  5.  As  God  continueth  his  presence 
with  us,  (blessed  be  his  name)  so  be  ye  present  in 
spirit  with  us,  though  absent  in  body  :  Forget  not 
the  womb  that  bare  you  and  the  breast  that  gave  you 
suck.  Even  ducklings  hatched  under  an  hen,  though 
they  take  the  water,  yet  will  still  have  recourse  to 
the  wing  that  hatched  them  :  how  much  more  should 
chickens  of  the  same  feather,  and  yolk  ?  In  the 
amity  and  unity  of  brethren,  the  Lord  hath  not  only 
promised,  but  commanded  a  blessing,  even  life  for- 
evermore  :    Psal.   133.   1,  2. 

Fourthly,  go  forth,  every  man  that  goeth,  with  a 
public  spirit,  looking  not  on  your  own  things  only, 
but  also  on  the  things  of  others  :  Phil.  2.  4.  This 
care  of  universal  helpfulness  was  the  prosperity  of  the 
first  plantation  of  the  Primitive  Church,  Jets  4.  32. 


ADVICE   TO   COLONISTS.  1 59 

Fifthly,  have  a  tender  care  that  you  look  well  to 
the  plants  that  spring  from  you,  that  is,  to  your  chil- 
dren, that  they  do  not  degenerate  as  the  Israelites  did  ; 
after  which  they  were  vexed  with  afflictions  on  every 
hand.  How  came  this  to  pass?  Jer.  2.  21.  / 
planted  them  a  noble  vine,  holy,  a  right  seed  how 
then  art  thou  degenerate  into  a  strange  vine  before 
me  ?  Your  ancestors  were  of  a  noble  divine  spirit, 
but  if  they  suffer  their  children  to  degenerate,  to  take 
loose  courses,  then  God  will  surely  pluck  you  up  : 
Otherwise  if  men  have  a  care  to  propagate  the  Ordi- 
nances and  Religion  to  their  children  after  them,  God 
will  plant  them  and  not  root  them  up.  For  want 
of  this,  the  seed  of  the  repenting  Ninhites  was 
rooted  out. 

Sixthly,  and  lastly,  offend  not  the  poor  natives, 
but  as  you  partake  in  their  land,  so  make  them  par- 
takers of  your  precious  faith  :  as  you  reap  their  tem- 
porals, so  feed  them  with  your  spirituals  :  win  them 
to  the  love  of  Christ,  for  whom  Christ  died.  They 
never  yet  refused  the  Gospel,  and  therefore  more  hope 
they  will  now  receive  it.  Who  knoweth  whether 
God  have  reared  this  whole  Plantation  for  such  an 
end  : 

Use  2.  Secondly,  for  consolation  to  them  that  are 
planted  by  God  in  any  place,  that  find  rooting  and 
establishing  from  God,  this  is  a  cause  of  much  en- 
couragement unto  you,  that  what  he  hath  planted  he 
will  maintain,  every  plantation  his  right  hand  hath  not 
planted  shall  be  rooted  up,  but  his  own  plantation 
shall  prosper,  and  flourish.  When  he  promiseth 
peace  and  safety,  what  enemies  shall  be  able  to  make 
the  promise  of  God  of  none  effect  ?    Neglect  not  walls, 


l6o  JOHN    COTTON. 

and  bulwalks,  and  fortifications  for  your  own  defence  ; 
but  ever  let  the  name  of  the  Lord  be  your  strong 
tower  ;  and  the  word  of  his  promise  the  rock  of  your 
refuge.  His  word  'that  made  heaven  and  earth  will 
not  fail,  till  heaven  and  earth  be  no  more.  Amen. 


[From  a  Letter  written  from  Boston,  Mass., 
Dec.  3,  1634,  TO  Some  English  Clergyman 
giving  Reasons  for  the  Emigration  of  Puritan 
Clergymen.] 

Our  Saviour's  warrant  is  clear  and  strong  (as  we 
conceive)  in  our  case,  that  when  we  are  distressed 
in  our  course  in  one  country  (ne  quid  dicam  gravius,) 
we  should  flee  to  another.  To  chose  rather  to 
bear  witness  to  the  truth  by  imprisonment  than  by 
banishment,  is  indeed  sometimes  God's  way  ;  but 
not  in  case  men  have  ability  of  body  and  opportunity 
to  remove,  and  no  necessary  engagement  for  to  stay. 
Whilst  Peter  was  young,  he  might  gird  himself  and  go 
whither  he  would  ;  but  when  he  was  old  and  unfit 
for  travel,  then  indeed  God  called  him  rather  to  suffer 
himself  to  be  girt  of  others,  and  led  along  to  prison 
and  to  death.  Nevertheless,  in  this  point  I  conferred 
with  the  chief  of  our  people,  and  offered  them  to 
bear  witness  to  the  truth  I  had  preached  and  practised 
amongst  them,  even  unto  bonds,  if  they  conceived  it 
might  be  any  confirmation  to  their  faith  and  patience. 
But  they  dissuaded  me  that  course,  as  thinking  it 
better  for  themselves,  and  for  me,  and  for  the  church 
of  God,  to  withdraw  myself  from  the  present  storm, 
and  to  minister  in  this  country  to  such  of  their  town  as 


ADVICE    TO   COLONISTS.  l6l 

they  had  sent  before  hither,  and  such  others  as  were 
willing  to  go  along  with  me,  or  to  follow  after  me  ; 
the  most  of  the  {obliterated)  choosing  rather  to  dwell 
in  the  (a  line  and  a  half  obliterated)  there.  What 
service  myself  or  brother  Hooker  might  do  to  our 
people  or  other  brethren  in  prison,  (especially  in  close 
prison,  which  was  feared,)  I  suppose  we  both  of  us, 
by  God's  help,  do  the  same,  and  much  more,  and 
with  more  freedom  from  hence,  as  occasion  is  offered  ; 
besides  all  our  other  service  to  the  people  here,  which 
yet  is  enough,  and  more  than  enough,  to  fill  both 
our  hands,  yea  and  the  hands  of  many  brethren  more, 
such  as  yourself,  should  God  be  pleased  to  make  way 
for  your  comfortable  passage  to  us.  To  have  tarried 
in  England  for  the  end  you  mention,  to  appear  in 
defence  you  mention,  to  appear  in  defence  of  that 
cause  for  which  we  were  questioned,  had  been,  as 
we  conceive  it  in  our  case,  to  limit  witness-bearing 
to  the  cause  (which  may  be  done  more  ways  than 
one,)  to  one  only  way,  and  that  such  a  way  as  we 
did  not  see  God  calling  us  unto.  Did  not  Paul  bear 
witness  against  the  Levitical  ceremonies,  and  yet 
choose  rather  to  depart  quickly  out  of  Hierusalem, 
because  the  most  of  the  Jews  would  not  receive  his 
testimony  concerning  Christ  in  that  question,  than  to 
stay  at  Hierusalem  to  bear  witness  to  that  cause  unto 
prison  and  death  ?  Not  that  we  came  hither  to  strive 
against  ceremonies,  or  to  fight  against  shadows  ;  there 
is  no  need  of  further  labor  in  that  course.  Our  people 
here  desire  to  worship  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth  ; 
and  our  people  left  in  England  know  as  well  the 
grounds  and  reasons  of  our  suffering  against  these 
things,  as  our  sufferings   themselves  ;   which  we  be- 


I  62  JOHN    COTTON. 

seech  the  Lord  to  accept  and  bless  in  our  blessed 
Saviour.  How  far  our  testimony  there  hath  pre- 
vailed with  any  others  to  search  more  seriously  into 
the  cause,  we  do  rather  observe  in  thankfulness  and 
silence,  than  speak  of  to  the  prejudice  of  our  brethren. 


A    DEFENCE    OF    PERSECUTION. 

[From  "An  Answer  of  Mr.  John  Cotton  of 
Boston  in  New  England,  to  the  Aforesaid 
Arguments  against  Persecution  for  Cause  of 
Conscience,"  printed  in  Williams'  "Bloody 
Tenent."] 

Your  second  head  of  reasons  is  taken  from  the 
profession  and  practice  of  famous  princes,  King 
James,   Stephen  of  Poland,   King  of  Bohemia. 

Whereunto  a  treble  answer  may  briefly  be 
returned. 

First,  we  willingly  acknowledge,  that  none  is  to 
be  persecuted  at  all,  no  more  than  they  may  be 
oppressed  for  righteousness  sake. 

Again,  we  acknowledge  that  none  is  to  be  pun- 
ished for  his  conscience,  though  misinformed,  as 
hath  been  said,  unless  his  error  be  fundamental,  or 
seditiously  and  turbulently  promoted,  and  that  after 
due  conviction  of  his  conscience,  that  it  may  appear 
he  is  not  punished  for  his  conscience,  but  for  sinning 
against  his  conscience. 

Furthermore,  we  acknowledge  none  is  to  be  con- 
strained to  believe  or  profess  the  true  religion  till  he 
be  convinced  in  judgment  of  the  truth  of  it :  but  yet 


A    DEFENCE    OF    PERSECUTION.       1 63 

restrained  he  may  (be)  from  blaspheming  the  truth, 
and  from  seducing  any  unto  pernicious  errors. 

2.  We  answer,  what  princes  profess  or  practice, 
is  not  a  rule  of  conscience  :  they  many  times  tolerate 
that  in  point  of  State  policy,  which  cannot  justly  be 
tolerated  in  point  of  true  Christianity. 

Again,  princes  many  times  tolerate  offenders  out 
of  very  necessity,  when  the  offenders  are  either  too 
many,  or  too  mighty  for  them  to  punish,  in  which 
respect  David  tolerated  Joab  and  his  murthers,  but 
against  his  will. 

3.  We  answer  further,  that  for  those  three  princes 
named  by  you,  who  tolerated  religion,  we  can  name 
you  more  and  greater  who  have  not  tolerated  Here- 
tics and  Schismatics,  notwithstanding  their  pretence 
of  conscience,  and  arrogating  the  crown  of  martyrdom 
to  their  sufferings. 

Constantine  the  Great  at  the  request  of  the  general 
Council  of  Nice,  banished  Arius  with  some  of  his 
fellows.  Sozom.  lib.  i.  Eccles.  Hist.  cap.  19.  20. 
The  same  Constantine  made  a  severe  law  against  the 
Donatists.  And  the  like  proceedings  against  them 
were  used  by  Valentinian,  Gratian,  and  Theodosius, 
as  Augustine  reporteth  in  Epist.  166.  Only  Julian 
the  Apostate  granted  liberty  to  Heretics  as  well  as  to 
Pagans,  that  he  might  by  tolerating  all  weeds  to  grow, 
choke  the  vitals  of  Christianity,  which  was  also  the 
practice  and  sin  of  Valens  the  Arian. 

Queen  Elizabeth,  as  famous  for  her  government  as 
any  of  the  former,  it  is  well  known  what  laws  she 
made  and  executed  against  Papists.  Yea  and  King 
James  (one  of  your  own  witnesses)  though  he  was 
slow  in  proceeding  against   Papists  (as  you  say)  for 


164  JOHN    COTTON. 

conscience  sake,  yet  you  are  not  ignorant  how  sharply 
and  severely  he  punished  those  whom  the  malignant 
world  calleth  Puritans,  men  of  more  conscience  and 
better  faith  than  he  tolerated. 

I  come  now  to  your  third  and  last  argument,  taken 
from  the  judgment  of  ancient  and  later  writers,  yea 
even  of  Papists  themselves,  who  have  condemned  per- 
secution for  conscience  sake. 

You  begin  with  Hilary,  whose  testimony  we  might 
admit  without  any  prejudice  to  the  truth  :  for  it  is 
true,  the  Christian  Church  did  not  persecute,  but  is 
persecuted.  But  to  excommunicate  an  Heretic,  is  not 
to  persecute  ;  that  is,  it  is  not  to  punish  an  innocent, 
but  a  culpable  and  damnable  person,  and  that  not  for 
conscience,  but  for  persisting  in  error  against  light  of 
conscience,  whereof  it  hath  been  convinced. 

It  is  true  also  what  he  saith,  that  neither  the  Apostles 
did,  nor  may  we  propagate  (the)  Christian  Religion 
by  the  sword  :  but  if  Pagans  cannot  be  won  by  the 
word,  they  are  not  to  be  compelled  by  the  sword. 
Nevertheless,  this  hindreth  not,  but  if  they  or  any 
others  should  blaspheme  the  true  God,  and  his  true 
religion,  they  ought  to  be  severely  punished  :  and  no 
less  do  they  deserve,  if  they  seduce  from  the  truth  to 
damnable  heresies  or  idolatry. 


SCRIPTURAL    EXPOSITION.  165 


SPECIMENS    OF    SCRIPTURAL    EXPOSI- 
TION. 

[From  "A  Brief  Exposition  of  the  Whole  Book 
of  Canticles,  or  Song  of  Solomon."  London, 
1642.] 

[From  Chapter  II.  J 

Stay  me  with  flagons  and  comfort  me  Verse  j. 
with  apples ,  for  I  am  sick  of  love.  ~\  I,  the 
Church  is  here  faint  and  sick,  and  ready 
to  swoon,  for  desire  of  further  fellowship 
with  Christ,  and  for  her  own  help  desir- 
eth, 

First,  Flagons  of  wine  to  stay  her. 

Secondly,   Apples  to  comfort  her ;    as 
indeed  apples  do  comfort    the  heart  and 
stomach,  prevents  swooning,  and  restrains 
poison:  *  Thus  Daniel,  through  abundance    *  Femelius, 
of  Revelations    was    faint    and    sick,    and    a  physician, 
desirous  of  more  clear  knowledge  of  his 
visions,  and  of  the  Church's  deliverance, 
and  round  the  j~  Angel  ready  to  refresh  and    f  Dan.  8. 
strengthen   him  :   and   the  other  members    27- and  IO_ 
of  the  Church  feeling  such  sweet  taste  of    I(-liq 
Christ's   presence    amongst    them    in    the 
captivity,  were  (doubtless)  earnestly  desi- 
rous of  more  full  enjoying   him  perfectly, 

First,  by  the  Ministry  of  the  Prophets, 
as  by  flagons  of  wine. 

Secondly,  by  the  Magistracy  of  Daniel  Dan.  2. 
and   his  fellows,  whom  the   King   set   up    48>  49- 


1 66  JOHN    COTTON. 

for  inferior  magistrates,  as  by  apples,  the 
fruit  of  the  apple  trees. 

[From  Chapter  IV.] 

Tby  hair  as  a  flock  of  Goats  that 
appear  from  mount   Gilead.~\ 

Hair,  though  it  hang  long  upon  the 
head,   yet  it  may  in  time  either, 

First,  fall  of  itself. 

Secondly,  be  cut  off:  so  were  the  com- 
mon Christians  of  that  time  (as  it  were) 
hair, 

i.    For  multitude. 

2.  Hanging  on  Christ  the  head. 

3.  Falling  many  of  them  from  him  : 
*Joh.  6.            First,*  either  of  themselves,  Or 

66-  Secondly,  cut  off  by  the  practices  of 

*  Mat.  27.     the  Priests  :*  hence  it  was  that  Jesus  durst 
2°-  not  commit  himself  to  them. 

Joh.  12.42.         As  apck  0f  Goats ,~]  which  are  wont, 
Toh.  2.  23  First,  to  assemble  themselves  in  com- 

-25.  panies  :    so   did    the   people    gather   after 

Christ. 

Secondly,  to  be  without  a  shepherd,  as 
*Mat.  9.      this  people  were.* 

36-  Thirdly,  to  feed  afar  off,  and  that  some- 

what dangerously,  upon  Rocks. 
*Mar.  8.  g0  tne  pe0p]e  came  from  far  to  hear 

*  Toh  9         Christ,*  and  were  in  danger  for  feeding 
X2.  on  him.* 


SCRIPTURAL   EXPOSITION.  167 


[From  Chapter  V.] 

Verse  1 1 .  His  bead  is  as  the  most  fine  gold,  his 
locks  are  bushy,  and  black  as  a  raven. 

His  head  is  as  the  most  fine  gold."]  Christ  comes 
now  to  be  described  in  his  members  more  particu- 
larly :  This  head  of  gold  Christ  shewed  on  the 
earth  in  the  person  of  Frederick,  the  second  Emperor 
of  Rome,  a  Prince  of  much  purity  and  worth,  as  an 
head  of  the  Church  of  fine  gold  :  He  contended  with 
many  Popes  about  the  headship  of  the  Church,  ad- 
vanced the  headship  of  Christ  and  of  himself,  his 
Vice-gerents,  above  the  counterfeit  head  of  the  Pope's 
Supremacy.  He  wrastled  for  Christ  against  them 
with  much  difficulty,  yet  prevailed  ;  so  that  even  in 
the  popish  schools  his  election  of  God  was  agreed  and 
condescended  unto  by  sundry. 

His  locks  are  bushy,  or  curled,  and  black  as  a 
raven,]  Curled  black  hair  is  a  sign  of  heat  and 
courage,  and  wit  in  him  that  it  groweth  upon  :  such 
was  the  Emperor  himself,  and  such  were  the  common 
Christians  of  that  age  that  did  depend  upon  their 
Emperor  ;  they  stuck  close  to  him  ;  learned  men 
with  wit,  more  than  former  ages  had  yielded,  and 
soldiers    with    courage    maintained    his    person    and 


1 68  JOHN   COTTON. 


WHO    SHOULD    BEAR    THE    KEYS. 

[From  -THE  |  KEYES  |  Of  the  Kingdom  of  | 
HEAVEN,  |  and  |  Power  thereof,  according  to 
the  |  Word  of  God.  |  By  |  That  learned  and 
Judicious  Divine,  |  Mr.  Iohn  Cotton,  Teacher  of 
the  Church  |  at  Boston,  in  New  England,  |  Tend- 
ing to  reconcile  some  present  differences  about  | 
DISCIPLINE,"  etc.      London,  1644.] 

[Chap.  VII.] 

Obj.  2.  The  body  of  the  Church  is  the  Spouse 
of  Christ,  the  Lamb's  wife,  and  ought  not  the  wife 
to  rule  the  servants  and  stewards  in  the  house, 
rather  than  they  her  ?  Is  it  not  meet  the  Keys 
of  Authority  should  hang  at  her  girdle  rather  than 
at  theirs  ? 

Answ.  There  is  a  difference  to  be  put  between 
Queens,  Princesses,  Ladies  of  great  Honor  (such  as 
the  Church  is  to  Christ,  Psal.  45.  9),  and  country 
huswives,  poor  men's  wives.  Queens  and  great  per- 
sons have  several  offices  and  officers  for  every  busi- 
ness and  service  about  the  house,  as  Chamberlains, 
Stewards,  Treasurers,  Comptrollers,  Ushers,  Bailiffs, 
Grooms,  and  Porters,  who  have  all  the  authority  of 
ordering  the  affairs  of  their  lord's  house  on  their 
hands.  There  is  not  a  key  left  in  the  Queen's 
hand  of  any  office,  but  only  of  power  and  liberty  to 
call  for  what  she  wanteth  according  to  the  King's 
royal  allowance  ;  which  if  she  exceed,  the  officers 
have  power  to  restrain  her  by  order  from  the  King. 


WHO  SHOULD  BEAR  THE  KEYS.   1 69 

But  country  huswives,  and  poor  men's  wives,  whose 
husbands  have  no  Officers,  Bailiffs,  or  Stewards,  to 
oversee  and  order  their  estates,  they  may  carry  the 
keys  of  any  office  at  their  own  girdles,  which  the 
husband  keepeth  not  in  his  own  hand,  not  because 
poor  huswives  have  greater  authority  in  the  house 
than  queens  ;  but  because  of  their  poverty  and  mean 
estate,  they  are  fain  to  be  instead  of  many  servants 
to  their  husbands. 


OF   BROWNISTS,    ETC. 

[From    the    way    of    Congregational    Churches 
Clared,  by  Mr.  John  Cotton,  London,  1648.] 

[Part  I.  Chap.  II.] 

...  As  there  is  a  vast  difference  between  the 
Episcopacy  of  England,  and  the  Superintendency  of 
Germany  (the  one  ruling  by  Monarchical  Power, 
the  other  by  the  consent  of  the  Aristocratical  Pres- 
bytery:) so  neither  is  there  such  correspondency  be- 
tween the  German  Anabaptism,  and  the  English 
Brownism,  as  to  make  Brownism  a  native  branch  of 
Anabaptism. 

.  .  .  Answ.  The  dissolution  of  ice  and  snow 
into  water,  doth  indeed  argue  strongly  their  original 
from  water,  because  they  are  easily  resolved  into  it 
without  putrefaction  or  corruption.  But  so  is  not 
the  Separatist  resolved  into  a  German  Anabaptist, 
without  a  further  degree  of  corruption  and  putrefac- 
tion. It  is  no  argument  a  man  is  bred  of  worms, 
because  he  is    next  resolved   into  worms  ;  for  he  is 


170  JOHN    COTTON. 

not  so  resolved  without  putrefaction.  Say  not,  a 
man  is  resolved  at  last  into  dust  from  whence  he  was 
first  taken  ;  and  yet  the  resolution  is  not  made  with- 
out putrefaction.  For  man  is  not  made  of  dust  natu- 
rally, but  by  a  transcendent  creating  power  above 
Nature.  But  the  Dissuader  maketh  the  Separation  a 
native  branch  of  Anabaptism. 

Besides,  I  suppose,  it  is  not  an  obvious  thing  to 
hear  of  an  Anabaptist  turned  Separatist,  though  some 
Separatists  have  turned  Anabaptists  ;  which  argueth 
there  is  not  such  a  mutual  frequent  transition  from 
the  one  to  the  other,  as  is  yearly  found  of  ice  and 
snow  into  water,  and  of  water  into  ice  or  snow 
again.    .   .    . 


[Part  I.  Chap.  III.  Sec.  III.] 

Touching  the  Line  of  the  Pedigree  of  the  Independents  in  New 
England. 

.  .  .  That  the  Separatists  were  our  fathers  we  have 
justly  denied  it  above  ;  seeing  they  neither  begat  us  to 
God  nor  to  the  Church  nor  to  their  Schism.  That 
we  are  (through  Grace)  begotten  to  God  and  to  his 
Church,  we  receive  (many  of  us)  from  the  blessing 
of  Christ  upon  the  Ministry  of  England.  That  we 
grew  weary  of  the  burden  of  Episcopacy  and  Con- 
formity we  received  from  the  Word  of  God  by  the 
help  of  the  Nonconformists  there.  That  we  laid 
aside  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  we  received  from 
the  serious  meditation  of  the  Second  Commandment 
and  not  from  the  writings  of  the  Separatists,  though 
they  also   had   taken  up   the  same   conclusion  upon 


WHO  SHOULD  BEAR  THE  KEYS.   171 

other  premises.  The  particular  visible  Church  of  a 
congregation  to  be  the  first  subject  of  the  power  of 
Keys  we  received  by  the  light  of  the  Word  from  Mr. 
Parker,  Mr.  Baynes  and  Dr.  Ames,  from  whom  also 
(from  two  of  them  at  least)  we  received  light  out  of 
the  Word  for  the  matter  of  the  visible  Church  to  be 
visible  saints  ;  and  for  the  form  of  it  to  be  a  mutual 
covenant,  whether  an  explicit  or  implicit  profession 
of  faith,  and  subjection  to  the  Gospel  of  Christ  in  the 
society  of  the  Church  or  Presbytery  thereof.  And 
these  be  the  chief  doctrines  and  practices  of  our  way 
so  far  as  it  difFereth  from  other  Reformed  Churches, 
and  having  received  these  not  from  the  Separatists 
but  from  the  Lord  Jesus  by  gracious  saints  and  faith- 
ful witnesses  of  Jesus  the  consanguinity  of  our  tenets 
with  any  the  like  found  among  the  Separatists  will 
not  demonstrate  the  Separatists  to  be  our  fathers. 


[Part  I.  Chap.  V.  Sec.  II.] 

Of  the  Fruits  of  Congregational   Discipline  in  our  Churches  in 
New  England. 

For  the  fruits  of  congregational  discipline  as  it  hath 
been  exercised  amongst  us  (though  in  much  weakness) 
the  Lord  hath  not  left  us  without  testimony  from 
heaven  : 

First,  in  making  these  churches  a  little  sanctuary 
(through  his  grace)  to  many  thousands  of  his  ser- 
vants who  fled  over  hither  to  avoid  the  unsupport- 
able  pressures  of  their  consciences  by  the  Episcopal 
tyranny. 

Secondly,  in  blessing  the  ministery  of  our  preach- 


172  JOHN    COTTON. 

ers  here  with  like  fruits  of  conversion  (as  in  our  native 
country)  of  sundry  elder  and  younger  persons,  who 
came  over  hither  no  out  of  respect  to  conscience, 
or  spiritual  ends,  but  out  of  respect  to  friends  or 
outward  enlargements  :  but  have  here  found  that 
grace,   which  they  sought  not  for. 

Thirdly,  in  discovering  and  suppressing  those 
errors  of  Antinomians,  and  Familists,  which  brake 
forth  here  amongst  us,  and  might  have  proceeded  to 
the  subversion  of  many  souls,  had  not  the  blessing  of 
Christ  upon  the  vigilancy  of  Congregational  disci- 
pline, either  prevented  or  removed,  or  healed  the 
same. 

Fourthly,  it  hath  been  also  a  testimony  from 
Heaven  of  God's  blessing  upon  our  way,  that  many 
thousands  in  England  in  all  the  Quarters  of  the  King- 
dom, have  been  awakened  to  consider  the  cause  of 
Church  discipline,  for  which  we  have  suffered  this 
hazardous  and  voluntary  banishment  into  this  remote 
wilderness  :  and  have  therefore  by  letters  conferred 
with  us  about  it,  and  been  (through  mercy)  so  far 
enlightened,  as  to  desire  an  utter  subversion  of  Epis- 
copacy, and  conformity,  yea  and  the  Honorable 
Houses  of  Parliament,  the  Lord  hath  been  pleased 
to  help  them  so  far  to  consider  of  our  sufferings,  and 
of  the  causes  thereof,  as  to  conclude  a  necessity  of 
reformation  of  the  ecclesiastical  state  (among  other 
causes)  by  reason  of  the  necessity  put  upon  so  many 
English  subjects  to  depart  from  all  our  employments 
and  enjoyments  in  our  native  country  for  conscience 
sake. 


MR.   THOMAS    HOOKER.  173 


On   my    Reverend  and   dear  Brother,   MT   Thomas 

Hooker,  late  Pastor  of  the   Church  at  Hartford  on 

Connectiquot. 

To  see  three  things  was  holy  Austin's  wish, 
Rome  in  her  Flower,  Christ  Jesus  in  the  Flesh, 
And  Paul  i'th  Pulpit  ;   Lately  men  might  see, 
Two  first,  and  more,  in  Hooker's  Ministry. 

Zion  in  Beauty,  is  a  fairer  sight, 

Than  Rome  in  Flower,  with  all  her  Glory  dight: 

Yet  Zion's  Beauty  did  most  clearly  shine, 

In  Hooker's  Rule,  and  Doctrine;  both  Divine. 

Christ  in  the  Spirit,  is  more  than  Christ  in  Flesh, 
Our  Souls  to  quicken,  and  our  States  to  bless  : 
Yet  Christ  in  Spirit  brake  forth  mightily, 
In  Faithful  Hooker's  searching  Ministry. 

Paul  in  the  Pulpit,  Hooker  could  not  reach, 
Yet  did  He  Christ  in  Spirit  so  lively  Preach  : 
That  living  Hearers  thought  He  did  inherit 
A  double  Portion  of  Paul's  lively  spirit. 

Prudent  in  Rule,  in  Argument  quick,  full  : 
Fervent  in  Prayer,  in  Preaching  powerful  : 
That  well  did  learned  Ames  record  bear, 
The  like  to  Him  He  never  wont  to  hear. 

'Twas  of  Geneva's  Worthies  said,  with  wonder, 
(Those  Worthies  Three:  )  Farell  was  wont  to  thunder; 
Viret,  like  Rain,  on  tender  grass  to  shower, 
But  Calvin,  lively  Oracles  to  pour.  y 


174  JOHN    COTTON. 

All  these  in  Hooker's  spirit  did  remain  : 
A  Son  of  Thunder,  and  a  shower  of  Rain, 
A  pourer  forth  of  lively  Oracles, 
In  saving  souls,  the  sum  of  miracles. 

Now  blessed  Hooker,  thou  art  set  on  high, 

Above  the  thankless  world,  and  cloudy  sky  : 

Do  thou  of  all  thy  labor  reap  the  Crown, 

Whilst  we  here  reap  the  seed,  which  thou  hast  sowen. 


TRIBUTES    TO    COTTON. 

The  early  New  England  divines,  as  is  well  known, 
formed  what  Dr.  Holmes  was  fond  of  terming  a 
Brahmin  caste.  They  were  thoroughly  banded  to- 
gether and  upheld  their  theocracy  in  every  way  pos- 
sible, among  others  by  paying  sincere,  if  extravagant 
tributes  to  those  of  their  number  who  had  been  gathered 
to  their  reward  in  heaven.  Several  of  these  tributes  will 
be  given  in  our  pages.  John  Cotton,  who  has  just 
appeared  as  an  elegist  of  his  friend  Hooker,  was  espe- 
cially honored  by  his  surviving  brethren,  and  we 
present  three  representative  specimens  of  their  hyper- 
bolical praise.  The  first  is  from  the  short  sketch  by 
the  Rev.  Samuel  Whiting  (1597-1679)  of  Lynn; 
the  second  from  the  longer  life  by  the  Rev.  John 
Norton  (1606-1663),  progenitor  of  a  distinguished 
New  England  family  and  famous  as  a  theologian  ; 
the  third,  in  verse,  is  the  production  of  the  Rev. 
Benjamin  Woodbridge  (1622-1684),  the  first  gradu- 
ate of  Harvard,  who  is  not  strictly  an  American 
writer  since  he  resided  in  the  country  only  a  few 
years. 

[From  Whiting's  Sketch.] 

I  could  speak  much  more  ;  but  at  this  present  want 
strength.      But  this  I  say  ;   he  may  be  a  pattern  to  us 

'75 


176  JOHN    COTTON. 

all,  and  happy  they  that  come  nearest  him  in  those 
things  wherein  he  most  followed  Christ.  I  am  not 
like  to  live  to  see  such  another  in  New  England, 
though  I  know  God  is  able  to  double  the  spirit  of 
that  Elias  upon  him  that  succeeds  him,  and  upon 
many  others  in  our  native  country  and  here.  It  is 
well  for  both  the  Bostons  that  they  have  had  such  a 
light,  if  they  walk  in  the  light,  and  continue  in  that 
word  of  Christ  and  light  of  grace  and  truth,  that  he 
held  out  to  them.  I  end  all  with  that  of  our  Saviour 
concerning  John  Baptist,  "  he  was  a  burning  and 
a  shining  light ' '  ;  and  God  grant  the  after  words  be 
not  verified  of  both  Englands  and  both  Bostons.  I 
speak  my  fears,  but  would  be  glad  to  entertain  better 
hopes. 


[From  Norton's  5f  Abel  being  Dead  yet  Speaketh  ; 
or  the  Life  and  Death  of  Mr.  John  Cot- 
ton," London,  1658.] 

.  .  .  He  was  a  general  Scholar,  studious  to  know 
all  things,  the  want  whereof  might  in  one  of  his  pro- 
fession be  denominated  ignorance  ;  and  piously  igno- 
rant of  those  things,  the  nescience  whereof  made  him 
more  learned.  One  man  is  not  born  to  all  things. 
No  calling  (besides  divine  requisites)  calleth  for  more 
abilities,  or  a  larger  measure  of  humane  knowledge, 
than  the  ministry  ;  deservedly  therefore  is  his  praise 
great  in  all  the  churches,  that  he  not  only  gave  him- 
self thereunto,  but  exceeded  many  that  had  done 
virtuously  therein.  The  greater  part  of  the  Encyclo- 
paideia  he  excelled  in.      Those  arts  which  the  uni- 


TRIBUTES    TO    COTTON.  I  77 

versity  requireth  such  a  proficiency  from  her  graduates 
in,  he  both  digested  and  refined  by  his  more  accurate 
knowledge  of  them.  He  was  a  good  Hebrician,  in 
Greek  a  critick,  and  could  with  great  facility  both 
speak  and  write  Latin  in  a  pure  and  elegant  Cicero- 
nian style  ;  a  good  historian,  no  stranger  to  the 
Fathers,  Councils,  or  School-men  ;  abundantly  exer- 
cised in  commentators  of  all  sorts.  His  library  was 
great,  his  reading  and  learning  unanswerable,  himself 
a  living  and  better  library.  Though  he  was  a  con- 
stant student,  yet  he  had  all  his  learning  out  of  his 
books.  He  was  a  man  of  much  communion  with 
God,  and  acquaintance  with  his  own  heart,  observing 
the  daily  passages  of  his  life.  He  had  a  deep  sight 
into  the  mystery  of  Gods  grace,  and  man's  corrup- 
tion, and  large  apprehensions  of  these  things.  .  .  . 
With  Solon,  as  he  grew  old,  so  was  he  con- 
tinually a  learner;  and  with  Quintilian  he  terminated 
his  life  and  his  reading  both  together.  The  constant 
work  of  his  ministry  was  great,  if  not  too  great  for 
one  man.  A  candle  may  spend  too  fast,  and  the 
improvement  of  the  light  whilst  it  is  yet  burning 
admits  of  degrees  ;  besides  his  preaching  in  season 
and  out  of  season,  he  was  daily  pressed,  if  not  op- 
pressed, with  the  care  and  service  of  the  churches, 
attendance  to  personal  cases,  and  manifold  other  em- 
ployments inevitably  put  upon  him,  both  from  abroad 
and  at  home;  whence  the  time  remaining  (which  is 
not  a  little  to  be  lamented)  was  insufficient  to  attend 
doctrinal  and  especial  polemical  scripts,  such  as  the 
cause  of  the  truth,  occurrents  of  Providence  and  his 
peculiar  engagements  called  for.  He  was  free  to  give 
his  judgment   when  desired,  but  declined   arbitration 


178  JOHN    COTTON. 

and  umpirage  in  civil  differences  between  man  and 
man  as  heterogeneous  both  to  his  office  and  spirit. 
His  course,  like  that  of  celestial  bodies,  was  always 
in  motion,  but  still  careful  to  keep  within  his  proper 
sphere.  Calvin  was  not  more  solicitous  not  to  be 
found  idle  ;  no  man  more  vigilant  to  contain  himself 
within  his  measure.  It  was  religion  to  him  both  to 
run  and  to  run  lawfully  within  the  white  lines  and 
boundaries  of  his  agonistical  race.  He  was  doing, 
and  so  doing.    .    .    . 

He  began  the  Sabbath  at  evening,  therefore  then 
performed  family-duty  after  supper,  being  larger  than 
ordinary  in  exposition.  After  which  he  catechised 
his  children  and  servants,  and  then  returned  into  his 
study.  The  morning  following,  family-worship  being 
ended,  he  retired  into  his  study  until  the  bell  called 
him  away.  Upon  his  return  from  meeting  he  re- 
turned again  into  his  study  (the  place  of  his  labor 
and  prayer),  unto  his  private  devotion  ;  where,  hav- 
ing a  small  repast  carried  him  up  for  his  dinner,  he 
continued  till  the  tolling  of  the  bell.  The  public 
service  being  over,  he  withdrew  for  a  space  to  his 
prementioned  oratory  for  his  sacred  addresses  unto 
God,  as  in  the  forenoon,  then  came  down,  repeated 
the  sermon  in  the  family,  prayed,  after  supper  sung  a 
Psalm,  and  towards  bed-time  betaking  himself  again  to 
his  study,  he  closed  the  day  with  prayer.  Thus  he 
spent  the  Sabbath  continually. 


BENJAMIN    WOODBRIDGE'S    ELEGY.      1 79 


BENJAMIN    WOODBRIDGE'S    ELEGY. 

Upon  the  Tomb  of  the  Most  Reverend  Mr. 
John  Cotton.  [From  Cotton  Mather's 
U  Magnalia."] 

Here  lies  magnanimous  humility ; 

Majesty,  meekness  ;  Christian  apathy 

On  soft  affections  ;  liberty  in  thrall ; 

A  noble  spirit,  servant  unto  all ; 

Learning's  great  masterpiece,  who  yet  would  sit 

As  a  disciple,  at  his  scholars'  feet  : 

A  simple  serpent  or  serpentine  dove, 

Made  up  of  wisdom,  innocence  and  love  : 

Neatness  embroider' d  with  itself  alone, 

And  civils  canonized  in  a  gown  ; 

Embracing  old  and  young,  and  low  and  high, 

Ethics  embodied  in  divinity  ; 

Ambitious  to  be  lowest,  and  to  raise 

His  brethren's  honor  on  his  own  decays  ; 

(Thus  doth  the  sun  retire  into  his  bed, 

That  being  gone  the  stars  may  show  their  head  ;) 

Could  wound  at  argument  without  division, 

Cut  to  the  quick,  and  yet  make  no  incision  : 

Ready  to  sacrifice  domestic  notions 

To  churches'  peace  and  ministers'  devotions  : 

Himself,  indeed  (and  singular  in  that) 

Whom  all  admired  he  admired  not : 

Liv'd  like  an  angel  of  a  mortal  birth, 

Convers'd  in  heaven  while  he  was  on  earth  : 

Though  not,  as  Moses,  radiant  with  night 

Whose  glory  dazzl'd  the  beholder's  sight, 


180  JOHN   COTTON. 

Yet  so  divinely  beautified,  you 'Id  count 

He  had  been  born  and  bred  upon  the  Mount ! 

A  living,  breathing  Bible  ;   tables  where 

Both  covenants  at  large  engraven  were  ; 

Gospel  and  law  in  ?  s  heart  had  each  its  column  ; 

His  head  an  index  to  the  sacred  volume  ; 

His  very  name  a  title-page  ;   and  next 

His  life  a  commentary  on  the  text. 

O,  what  a  monument  of  glorious  worth, 

When,  in  a  new  edition,  he  comes  forth, 

Without  erratas,  may  we  think  he'll  be 

In  leaves  and  covers  of  eternity  ! 

A  man  of  might,  at  heavenly  eloquence, 

To  fix  the  ear,  and  charm  the  conscience  ; 

As  if  Appollos  were  reviv'd  in  him, 

Or  he  had  learned  of  a  seraphim  ; 

Spake  many  tongues  in  one  ;  one  voice  and  sense 

Wrought  joy  and  sorrow,  fear  and  confidence  : 

Rocks  rent  before  him,  blind  receiv'd  their  sight ; 

Souls  levell'd  to  the  dunghill,  stood  upright  : 

Infernal  furies  burst  with  rage  to  see 

Their  prisoners  captiv'd  into  liberty  : 

A  star  that  in  our  eastern  England  rose, 

Thence  hurri'  d  by  the  blast  of  stupid  foes, 

Whose  foggy  darkness  and  benumbed  senses 

Brookt  not  his  dazzling  fervent  influences  : 

Thus  did  he  move  on  earth,  from  east  to  west ; 

There  he  went  down,  and  up  to  heaven  for  rest. 

Nor  from  himself,  whilst  living,  doth  he  vary, 

His  death  hath  made  him  an  ubiquitary  : 

Where  is  his  sepulchre  is  hard  to  say, 

Who,  in  a  thousand  sepulchres,  doth  lay 

(Their  hearts,  I  mean,  whom  he  hath  left  behind) 


BENJAMIN   WOODBRIDGE'S    ELEGY.     l8l 

In  them  his  sacred  reliques,  now,  enshrin'd. 

But  let  his  mourning  flock  be  comforted, 

Though  Moses  be,  yet  Joshua  is  not  dead  : 

I  mean  renowned  Norton  ;   worthy  he, 

Successor  to  our  Moses,  is  to  be. 

O  happy  Israel  in  America, 

In  such  a  Moses,  such  a  Joshua  ! 


ROGER   WILLIAMS. 

Roger  Williams,  the  founder  of  Rhode  Island,  was 
born  in  Wales  in  1599,  and  died  in  the  colony  he 
had  founded  in  1683,  one  of  the  longest  lived  of  the 
New  England  pioneers.  Of  his  family  and  early 
life  we  know  little  ;  but  he  had  an  influential  patron 
in  the  great  lawyer  Coke,  who  got  him  admission  to 
the  famous  Charterhouse  School  in  1621,  and  also  to 
Pembroke  College,  Cambridge,  where  he  was  gradu- 
ated. He  took  orders  in  the  English  Church,  but 
being  intimately  associated  with  Cotton  and  Hooker 
joined  the  advanced  Puritans,  and  leaving  England  in 
1630  reached  Boston  early  the  next  year.  Though 
esteemed  both  as  a  preacher  and  a  scholar  he  soon  fell 
under  suspicion  of  heresy.  A  few  months  after  his 
installation  as  assistant  at  Salem  he  was  constrained  to 
seek  shelter  in  the  relatively  tolerant  Plymouth,  where 
also  he  was  made  assistant  pastor  and  formed  friendly 
connections  with  Indian  chiefs,  whose  language  he 
quickly  acquired.  But  Plymouth,  too,  proved  narrow 
for  independent  thought,  and  after  two  years  he  re- 
turned to  Salem  with  some  devoted  adherents.  Soon 
after  began  his  memorable  struggle  for  liberty  of  con- 
science, complicated  by  an  unpopular  assertion  of  the 
rights  of  the  Indians  to  their  land.  He  was  charged 
with  heresy,  and  ordered  to  quit  the  colony.  It  was 
even  proposed  to  arrest  him  and  send  him  to  England, 
182 


ROGER   WILLIAMS.  183 

but  he  escaped  this  by  a  flight  through  the  wilderness. 
He  obtained  a  grant  of  land  from  the  Narragansett 
chiefs,  Canonicus  and  Miantonomoh,  on  the  present 
site  of  Providence,  where,  with  friends  from  Salem, 
he  settled  in  June,  1636.  His  influence  over  the 
Indians  was  of  immense  value  to  all  the  New  England 
colonies  in  the  Pequot  War.  He  went  to  England 
in  1643,  and  obtained  a  charter  for  Rhode  Island  the 
following  year,  publishing  while  abroad  a  Key  itito  the 
Language  of  America,  a  linguistic  work  of  much 
value  and  his  famous  Bloody  Tenetit  of  Persecution  for 
Cause  of  Conscience.  This  was  speedily  answered  by 
John  Cotton  in  The  Bloody  Tenent  Washed  and 
Made  White  in  the  Blood  of  the  Lamb  (1647),  to 
which  Williams  replied  effectively  in  The  Bloody  Ten- 
ent Made  yet  More  Bloody  by  Mr.  Cotton's  Endeavor 
to  Wash  it  White  (1652).  The  controversy  was, 
however,  conducted  with  rare  urbanity  on  both  sides. 
Williams  also  wrote,  while  on  his  first  visit  to  England, 
an  admirable  reply  to  the  reasons  given  for  his  ban- 
ishment, in  Mr.  Cotton' s  Letter  Examined  and  An- 
swered. On  his  return  to  the  colonies  he  secured  a 
treaty  with  the  Narragansetts,  and  took  an  active  part 
in  the  government  of  his  colony  in  whose  interest  he 
again  visited  England  (1 651-1654).  The  charter 
that  he  secured  was  so  liberal  that  the  Revolution  could 
leave  it  unaltered.  His  last  years  were  occupied 
largely  by  a  zealous  controversy  with  Quakers,  whom, 
however,  he  steadfastly  refused  to  persecute.  For 
three  days  the  old  man  of  seventy-three  wrestled 
with  them  in  the  Quaker  meeting-house  at  Newport, 
whither  he  had  rowed  himself  from  Providence  for 
the  occasion.      His  record    of   this  is  an  unreadable 


184  ROGER   WILLIAMS. 

quarto  with  the  genial  title  George  Fox  Digged  out  of 
bis  Burrowes  (1676).  Williams  combined,  in  singu- 
lar degree,  gentleness  and  strength,  mobility  and  per- 
manence, a  controversial  and  a  tolerant  spirit.  As  a 
writer  he  is  unequal,  as  most  of  his  contemporaries 
were,  but  many  passages  of  great  beauty  and  elo- 
quence may  be  culled  from  his  works.  Some  of  his 
letters  are  especially  noteworthy  for  the  dignity  and 
nobility  of  the  thought  expressed.  His  writings  are 
republished  by  the  Narragansett  Club. 


THE 

BLOUDY  TENENT, 

Of  Persecution,   for  cause  of 

Conscience,   discussed,   in 

A  Conference  betweene 

TRUTH   and  PEACE 

WHO, 

In  all  tender  Affection,  present  to  the  High 
Court  of  Parliamenty  (as  the  Result  of  their 
Discourse)  these,  (amongst  other  Passages 
of  highest  consideration. 

Printed  in  the  Year  1644. 


TO    EVERY   COURTEOUS   READER.      1 87 

TO     EVERY    COURTEOUS    READER. 
[From  the  Above.] 

While  I  plead  the  cause  of  truth  and  innocence 
against  the  bloody  doctrine  of  persecution  for  cause  of 
conscience,  I  judge  it  not  unfit  to  give  alarm  to  my- 
self, and  all  men  to  prepare  to  be  persecuted  or  hunted 
for  cause  of  conscience. 

Whether  thou  standest  charged  with  ten  or  but  two 
talents,  if  thou  huntest  any  for  cause  of  conscience, 
how  canst  thou  say  thou  followest  the  Lamb  of  God 
who  so  abhorred  that  practice  ? 

If  Paul,  if  Jesus  Christ  were  present  here  at  Lon- 
don, and  the  question  were  proposed  what  religion 
would  they  approve  of:  the  Papists,  Prelatists,  Pres- 
byterians, Independents,  &c.  wrould  each  say,  Of 
mine,  of  mine. 

But  put  the  second  question,  if  one  of  the  several 
sorts  should  by  major  vote  attain  the  sword  of  steel  : 
what  weapons  doth  Christ  Jesus  authorize  them  to 
fight  with  in  his  cause  ?  Do  not  all  men  hate  the 
persecutor,  and  every  conscience  true  or  false  com- 
plain of  cruelty,  tyranny  ?  &c. 

Two  mountains  of  crying  guilt  lie  heavy  upon  the 
backs  of  all  that  name  the  name  of  Christ  in  the  eyes 
of  Jews,  Turks,  and  Pagans. 

First,  the  blasphemies  of  their  idolatrous  inventions, 
superstitions,  and  most  unchristian  conversations. 

Secondly,  the  bloody  irreligious  and  inhuman  op- 
pressions, and  destructions  under  the  mask  or  veil  of 
the  name  of  Christ,  &c. 


!88  ROGER    WILLIAMS. 

0  how  like  is  the  jealous  Jehovah,  the  consuming 
fire,  to  end  these  present  slaughters  in  a  greater  slaugh- 
ter of  the  holy  witnesses  ?    Rev.   1 1 . 

Six  years  preaching  of  so  much  truth  of  Christ  (as 
that  time  afforded  in  King  Edward's  days)  kindles 
the  flames  of  Queen  Mary's  bloody  persecutions. 

Who  can  now  but  expect  that  after  so  many  scores 
of  years  preaching  and  professing  of  more  truth,  and 
amongst  so  many  great  contentions  amongst  the  very 
best  of  Protestants,  a  fiery  furnace  should  be  heat, 
and  who  sees  not  now  the  fires  kindling  ? 

1  confess  I  have  little  hopes  till  those  flames  are  over, 
that  this  discourse  against  the  doctrine  of  persecution 
for  cause  of  conscience  should  pass  current  (I  say  not 
amongst  the  wolves  and  lions,  but  even  amongst  the 
sheep  of  Christ  themselves)  yet  liber avi  animam  meamt 
I  have  not  hid  within  my  breast  my  soul's  belief:  and 
although  sleeping  on  the  bed  either  of  the  pleasures  or 
profits  of  sin  thou  thinkest  thy  conscience  bound  to 
smite  at  him  that  dares  to  waken  thee  ?  Yet  in  the 
midst  of  all  these  civil  and  spiritual  wars  (I  hope  we 
shall  agree  in  these  particulars. ) 

First,  however  the  proud  (upon  the  advantage  of  an 
higher  earth  or  ground)  o'erlook  the  poor  and  cry 
out  schismatics,  heretics,  &c.  shall  blasphemers  and 
seducers  'scape  unpunished?  &c.  Yet  there  is  a 
sorer  punishment  in  the  Gospel  for  despising  of  Christ 
than  Moses,  even  when  the  despiser  of  Moses  was  put 
to  death  without  mercy,  Heb.  10.  28,  29.  He  that 
believeth  not  shall  be  damned,  Mark  16.  16. 

Secondly,  whatever  worship,  ministry,  ministration, 
the  best  and  purest  are  practiced  without  faith  and 
true  persuasion  that   they  are   the  true  institutions  of 


TO  EVERY  COURTEOUS  READER.  1 89 

God,  they  are  sin,  sinful  worships,  ministries,  &c. 
And  however  in  civil  things  we  may  be  servants  unto 
men,  yet  in  divine  and  spiritual  things  the  poorest 
peasant  must  disdain  the  service  of  the  highest  prince. 
Be  ye  not  the  servants  of  men,  1  Cor.  14.  (vii :  23.) 

Thirdly,  without  search  and  trial  no  man  attains  this 
faith  and  right  persuasion,  1  Thes.  5  :  Try  all  things. 

In  vain  have  English  Parliaments  permitted  English 
Bibles  in  the  poorest  English  houses,  and  the  simplest 
man  or  woman  to  search  the  Scriptures,  if  yet  against 
their  souls'  persuasion  from  the  Scripture,  they  should 
be  forced  (as  if  they  lived  in  Spain  or  Rome  itself 
without  the  sight  of  a  Bible)  to  believe  as  the  Church 
believes. 

Fourthly,  having  tried,  we  must  hold  fast,  1 .  Thes- 
sal.  5.  upon  the  loss  of  a  crown,  Revel.  13  (iii  :  11.) 
we  must  not  let  go  for  all  the  flea  bitings  of  the  present 
afflictions,  &c.  having  bought  truth  dear,  we  must 
not  sell  it  cheap,  not  the  least  grain  of  it  for  the  whole 
world,  no  not  for  the  saving  of  souls,  though  our  own 
most  precious  ;  least  of  all  for  the  bitter  sweetening 
of  a  little  vanishing  pleasure. 

For  a  little  puff  of  credit  and  reputation  from  the 
changeable  breath  of  uncertain  sons  of  men. 

For  the  broken  bags  of  riches  on  eagles'  wings  :  for 
a  dream  of  these,  any  or  all  of  these  which  on  our  death- 
bed vanish  and  leave  tormenting  stings  behind  them  : 
Oh,  how  much  better  is  it  from  the  love  of  truth,  from 
the  love  of  the  Father  of  lights,  from  whence  it  comes, 
from  the  love  of  the  Son  of  God,  who  is  the  way  and 
truth,  to  say  as  he,  John  18.  37  :  For  this  end  was 
I  born,  and  for  this  end  came  I  into  the  world  that 
I  might  bear  witness  to  the  truth. 


190  ROGER    WILLIAMS. 


[From  the  Same.      Chapter  I.] 

Truth.  —  In  what  dark  corner  of  the  world 
(sweet  Peace)  are  we  two  met  ?  How  hath  this 
present  evil  world  banished  me  from  all  the  coasts 
and  quarters  of  it  ?  And  how  hath  the  righteous 
God  in  judgment  taken  thee  from  the  earth  ? 
Rev.  6.  4. 

Peace. — 'Tis  lamentably  true  (blessed  Truth) 
the  foundations  of  the  world  have  long  been  out  of 
course  :  the  gates  of  earth  and  hell  have  conspired 
together  to  intercept  our  joyful  meeting  and  our  holy 
kisses.  With  what  a  wearied,  tired  wing  have  I 
flown  over  nations,  kingdoms,  cities,  towns  to  find 
out  precious  Truth  ? 

Truth.  —  The  like  inquiries  in  my  flights  and 
travels  have  I  made  for  Peace,  and  still  am  told,  she 
hath  left  the  earth,  and  fled  to  heaven. 

Peace.  —  Dear  Truth,  what  is  the  earth  but  a 
dungeon  of  darkness,  where  Truth   is   not  ? 

Truth. — And  what's  the  Peace  thereof  but  a 
fleeting  dream,  thine  ape  and  counterfeit  ? 


[From  the  Same.      Chapter  II.] 

Truth.  —  Sweet  Peace,  what  hast  thou  there  ? 

Peace.  —  Arguments  against  persecution  for  cause 
of  conscience. 

Truth.  —  And  what  there  ? 

Peace.  —  An  answer  to  such  arguments,  contrarily 
maintaining  such  persecution  for  cause  of  conscience. 


TO  EVERY  COURTEOUS  READER.   191 

Truth.  —  These  arguments  against  such  persecu- 
tion, and  the  answer  pleading  for  it,  written  (as  love 
hopes)  from  godly  intentions,  hearts,  and  hands,  yet 
in  a  marvellous  different  style  and  manner.  The 
arguments  against  persecution  in  milk,  the  answer 
for  it  (as  I   may  say)  in  blood. 

The  author  of  these  arguments  (against  persecu- 
tion) (as  I  have  been  informed)  being  committed 
by  some  then  in  power,  close  prisoner  to  Newgate, 
for  the  witness  of  some  truths  of  Jesus,  and  having 
not  the  use  of  pen  and  ink,  wrote  these  arguments  in 
milk,  in  sheets  of  paper,  brought  to  him  by  the 
woman  his  keeper,  from  a  friend  in  London,  as  the 
stopples  of  his  milk  bottle. 

In  such  paper  written  with  milk  nothing  will 
appear,  but  the  way  of  reading  it  by  fire  being 
known  to  this  friend  who  received  the  papers,  he 
transcribed  and  kept  together  the  papers,  although 
the  author  himself  could  not  correct,  nor  view  what 
himself  had  written. 

It  was  in  milk,  tending  to  soul  nourishment,  even 
for  babes  and  sucklings  in  Christ. 

It  was  in  milk,  spiritually  white,  pure  and  inno- 
cent, like  those  white  horses  of  the  word  of  truth  and 
meekness,  and  the  white  linen  or  armor  of  righteous- 
ness, in  the  army  of  Jesus.     Rev.  6.  &  19. 

It  was  in  milk,  soft,  meek,  peaceable  and  gentle, 
tending  both  to  the  peace  of  souls,  and  the  peace  of 
States  and  Kingdoms. 

Peace. — The  answer  (though  I  hope  out  of 
milky  pure  intentions)  is  returned  in  blood  :  bloody 
and  slaughterous  conclusions  ;  bloody  to  the  souls  of 
all  men,   forced   to   the   religion  and   worship   which 


192  ROGER   WILLIAMS. 

every  civil  state  or  common- weal  agrees  on,  and  com- 
pels all  subjects  to  in  a  dissembled  uniformity. 

Bloody  to  the  bodies,  first  of  the  holy  witnesses 
of  Christ  Jesus,  who  testify  against  such  invented 
worships. 

Secondly,  of  the  nation  and  peoples  slaughtering 
each -other  for  their  several  respective  religions  and 
consciences. 


TO  GOVERNOR  WINTHROP  OF   MASSA- 
CHUSETTS. 

Providence,  the  24th  of  the  8th  [1636  ?] 

Sir,  worthy  and  well  beloved,  —  I  was  abroad 
about  the  Pequot  business  when  your  letter  arrived, 
and  since  messengers  have  not  fitted,  &c. 

I  therefore  now  thankfully  acknowledge  your  wis- 
dom and  gentleness  in  receiving  so  lovingly  my  late 
rude  and  foolish  lines  :  you  bear  with  fools  gladly 
because  you   are   wise. 

I  still  wait  upon  your  love  and  faithfulness  for  those 
poor  papers,  and  cannot  but  believe  that  your  heart, 
tongue,  and  pen  should  be  one,  if  I  were  Turk  or 
Jew,  &c. 

Your  six  queries  I  welcome,  my  love  forbidding 
me  to  surmise  that  a  Pharisee,  a  Sadducee,  an  Hero- 
dian,  &c,  wrote  them  ;  but  rather  that  your  love 
and  pity  framed  them  as  a  physician  to  the  sick,  &c. 

He  that  made  us  these  souls  and  searcheth  them, 
that  made  the  ear  and  eye,  and  therefore  sees  and 
hears  I  lie  not,  but  in  his  presence  have  sadly  seques- 
tered myself  to  his  holy  tribunal,  and  your  interroga- 


TO   GOVERNOR   WINTHROP.         1 93 

tories,  begging  from  his  throne  those  seven  fiery  lamps 
and  eyes,  his  holy  Spirit,  to  help  the  scrutiny,  desirous 
to  suspect  myself  above  the  old  serpent  himself,  and 
remembering  that  he  that  trusteth  in  his  own  heart  is 
a  fool.      Prov.  28. 

While  I  answer  let  me  importune  from  your  loving 
breast  that  good  opinion  that  you  deal  with  one  (how- 
ever so  and  so,  in  your  judgment  yet)  serious,  and 
desirous  in  the  matters  of  God's  Sanctuary  to  use  (as 
the  double  weights  of  the  Sanctuary  teach  us)  double 
diligence. 

Your  first  query  then  is  this. 

What  have  you  gained  by  your  new-found  prac- 
tices ?  &c. 

I  confess  my  gains  cast  up  in  man's  exchange  are 
loss  of  friends,  esteem,  maintenance,  &c,  but  what 
was  gain  in  that  respect  I  desire  to  count  loss  for  the 
excellency  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus  my  Lord  : 
&c.  To  His  all  glorious  Name  I  know  I  have  gained 
the  honor  of  one  of  his  poor  witnesses,  though  in 
sackcloth. 

To  your  beloved  selves  and  others  of  God's  people 
yet  asleep,  this  witness  in  the  Lord's  season  at  your 
waking  shall  be  prosperous,  and  the  seed  sown  shall 
arise  to  the  greater  purity  of  the  kingdom  and  ordi- 
nances of  the  Prince  of  the  kings  of  the  earth. 

To  myself  (through  his  rich  grace)  my  tribulation 
hath  brought  some  consolation  and  more  evidence  of 
his  love,  singing  Moses  his  song  and  the  Lamb's,  in 
that  weak  victory  which  (through  His  help)  I  have 
gotten  over  the  beast,  his  picture,  his  mark,  and 
number  of  his  name,  Revel.   15.  2.  3. 

If  you  ask  for  numbers,  the  witnesses  are  but  two  : 


194  ROGER   WILLIAMS. 

Revel,  ii.,  and  how  many  millions  of  Christians  in 
name,  and  thousands  of  Christians  in  heart,  do  call 
the  truths  (wherein  yourself  and  I  agree  in  witness- 
ing) new  found  practices  ? 

Gideon's  army  was  thirty -two  thousand  ;  but  cow- 
ardice returned  twenty-two  thousand  back,  and  nine 
thousand  seven  hundred  worldlings  sent  but  three 
hundred  to  the  battle. 

I  will  not  by  prophecy  exasperate,  but  wish  (in 
the  black  and  stormy  day)  your  company  be  not  less 
than  Gideon's  to  fight  (I  mean  with  the  Blood  of 
the  Lamb  and  Word  of  Witness)  for  what  you  profess 
to  see. 

To  your  second,  viz.  :  Is  your  spirit  as  even  as  it 
was  seven  years  since  ? 

I  will  not  follow  the  fashion  either  in  commending 
or  condemning  of  myself.  You  and  I  stand  at  one 
dreadful,  dreadful  tribunal  :  yet  what  is  past  I  desire 
to  forget,  and  to  press  forward  towards  the  mark  for 
the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ. 

And  for  the  evenness  of  my  spirit. 

Toward  the  Lord,  I  hope  I  more  long  to  know 
and  do  His  holy  pleasure  only,  and  to  be  ready  not 
only  to  be  banished,  but  to  die  in  New  England  for 
the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 

Towards  yourselves,  I  have  hitherto  begged  of  the 
Lord  an  even  spirit,  and  I  hope  ever  shall,  as 

First,  reverently  to  esteem  of,  and  tenderly  to 
respect  the  persons  of  many  hundreds  of  you,  &c. 

Secondly,  To  rejoice  to  spend  and  be  spent  in 
any  service,  (according  to  my  conscience)  for  your 
welfares. 

Thirdly,  To  rejoice  to  find  out  the  least  swerving 


TO  GOVERNOR  WINTHROP.    195 

in  judgment  or  practice  from  the  help  of  any,  even 
the  least  of  you. 

Lastly,  to  mourn  daily,  heavily,  uncessantly,  till 
the  Lord  look  down  from  Heaven,  and  bring  all  his 
precious  living  stones  into  one  New  Jerusalem. 

To  your  third,  viz.  :  Are  you  not  grieved  that 
you  have  grieved  so  many  ? 

I  say  with  Paul,  I  vehemently  sorrow  for  the 
sorrow  of  any  of  Zion's  daughters,  who  should  ever 
rejoice  in  her  King,  &c,  yet  I  must  (and  O  that  1 
had  not  cause)  grieve  because  so  many  of  Zion's 
daughters  see  not  and  grieve  not  for  their  souls'  defile- 
ments, and  that  so  few  bear  John  company  in  weep- 
ing after  the  unfolding  of  the  seals,  which  only  weepers 
are  acquainted  with. 

You  thereupon  propound  a  fourth,  Do  you  think 
the  Lord  hath  utterly  forsaken  us  ? 

I  answer  Jehovah  will  not  forsake  His  people  for 
His  great  name's  sake  I.  Sam.  12.  That  is,  the 
fire  of  His  love  towards  those  whom  once  He  loves 
is  eternal,  like  Himself:  and  thus  far  be  it  from  me 
to  question  His  eternal  love  towards  you,  &c.  Yet 
if  you  grant  that  ever  you  were  as  Abraham  among 
the  Chaldees,  Lot  among  the  Sodomites,  the  Kenites 
among  the  Amalekites,  as  Israel  in  Egypt  or  Babel, 
and  that  under  pain  of  their  plagues  and  judgments 
you  were  bound  to  leave  them,  depart,  fly  out,  (not 
from  the  places  as  in  the  type,)  but  from  the  filthi- 
ness,  of  their  sins,  &c,  and  if  it  prove,  as  I  know 
assuredly  it  shall,  that  though  you  have  come  far,  yet 
you  never  came  out  of  the  wilderness  to  this  day  : 
then,  I  beseech  you,  remember  that  yourselves,  and 
so  also   many   thousands   of  God's  people,  must  yet 


196  ROGER   WILLIAMS. 

mournfully  read  the  74,  79,  80,  and  89  Psalms,  the 
Lamentations,  Daniel  11th,  and  Revel.  11th,  12th, 
13th,  and  this,  Sir,  I  beseech  you  do  more  seriously 
then  ever,  and  abstract  yourself  with  a  holy  violence 
from  the  dung  heap  of  this  earth,  the  credit  and  com- 
fort of  it,  and  cry  to  Heaven  to  remove  the  stumbling 
blocks,  such  idols,  after  which  sometimes  the  Lord 
will  give  His  own  Israel  an  answer. 

Sir,  You  request  me  to  be  free  with  you,  and 
therefore  blame  me  not  if  I  answer  your  request, 
desiring  the  like  payment  from  your  own  dear  hand, 
at  any  time,  in  any  thing. 

And  let  me  add,  that  amongst  all  the  people  of 
God,  wheresoever  scattered  about  Babel's  banks, 
either  in  Rome  or  England,  &c,  your  case  is  the 
worst  by  far,  because  while  others  of  God's  Israel 
tenderly  respect  such  as  desire  to  fear  the  Lord,  your 
very  judgment  and  conscience  leads  you  to  smite  and 
beat  your  fellow  servants,  expel  them  your  coasts, 
&c,  and  therefore,  though  I  know  the  elect  shall 
never  finally  be  forsaken,  yet  Sodom's,  Egypt's, 
Arnalek's,  Babel's  judgments  ought  to  drive  us  out, 
to  make  our  calling  out  of  this  world  to  Christ,  and 
our  election  sure  in  him. 

Sir,  Your  fifth  is,  From  what  spirit,  and  to  what 
end  do  you  drive  ? 

Concerning  my  spirit,  as  I  said  before,  I  could 
declaim  against  it,  but  whether  the  spirit  of  Christ 
Jesus,  for  whose  visible  kingdom  and  ordinances  I 
witness,  &c,  or  the  spirit  of  Antichrist  ( 1  John  4) 
against  whom  only  I  contest,  do  drive  me,  let  the 
Father  of  Spirits  be  pleased  to  search,  and  (worthy 
Sir)  be  you  also  pleased  by  the  word  to  search  :  and 


TO  GOVERNOR  WINTHROP.    197 

I  hope  you  will  find  that  as  you  say  you  do,  I  also 
seek  Jesus  who  was  nailed  to  the  gallows,  I  ask  the 
way  to  lost  Zion,  I  witness  what  I  believe  I  see 
patiently  (the  Lord  assisting)  in  sackcloth,  I  long  for 
the  bright  appearance  of  the  Lord  Jesus  to  consume 
the  man  of  sin  :  I  long  for  the  appearance  of  the 
Lamb's  wife  also,  New  Jerusalem  :  I  wish  heartily 
prosperity  to  you  all,  Governor  and  people,  in  your 
civil  way,  and  mourn  that  you  see  not  your  poverty, 
nakedness,  &c,  in  spirituals,  and  yet  I  rejoice  in  the 
hopes  that  as  the  way  of  the  Lord  to  Apollo,  so 
within  a  few  years  (through,  I  fear  though,  many 
tribulations)  the  way  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  the  first  and 
most  ancient  path,  shall  be  more  plainly  discovered 
to  you  and  me. 

Lastly,  You  ask  whether  my  former  condition 
would  not  have  stood  with  a  gracious  heart,  &c.  ? 

At  this  query,  Sir,  I  wonder  much,  because  you 
know  what  sins,  yea  all  manner  of  sins,  (the  sin  unto 
death  excepted,)  a  child  of  God  may  lie  in,  instance 
1  need  not. 

Secondly,  When  it  comes  to  matter  of  conscience 
that  the  stroke  lies  upon  the  very  judgment,  that  the 
thing  practiced  is  lawful,  &c,  as  the  polygamy  of  the 
Saints,  the  building  of  the  Temple,  (if  David  had 
gone  on,)  the  many  false  ministries  and  ministrations 
(like  the  ark  upon  the  new  cart)  which  from  Luther's 
times  to  this  day,  God's  children  have  conscientiously 
practiced.  Who  then  can  wonder  (and  yet  indeed 
who  can  not  but  wonder)  how  a  gracious  heart, 
before  the  Lord's  awakening,  and  calling,  and  draw- 
ing out,  may  lie  in  many  abominations  ? 

Two  instances  I  shall  be  bold  to  present  you  with. 


198  ROGER   WILLIAMS. 

First,  do  you  not  hope  Bishop  Usher  hath  a  gracious 
heart  ;  and  secondly,  Do  you  not  judge  that  your 
own  heart  was  gracious  even  when  (with  the  poisoned 
shirt  on  your  back)  you,  &c.  ? 

But  while  another  judgeth  the  condition  fair,  the 
soul  that  fears,  doubts,  and  feels  a  guilt  hath  broken 
bones,  &c.  Now,  worthy  Sir,  I  must  call  up  your 
wisdom,  your  love,  your  patience,  your  promise  and 
faithfulness,  candid  ingenuity,  &c.  My  heart's  de- 
sire is  abundant,  and  exceeds  my  pen.  My  head 
and  actions  willing  to  live  (as  the  Apostle  Paul) 
XuAtos  iv  7rao-i.  Where  I  err,  Christ  be  pleased  to 
restore  me,  where  I  stand,  to  establish.  If  you 
please  I  have  also  a  few  queries  to  yourself,  without 
your  leave  I  will  not  :  but  will  ever  mourn,  (the 
Lord  assisting,)  that  I  am  no  more  (though  I  hope 
ever)  yours,  R  :  Will  : 

Sir,  Concerning  natives  :  the  Pequots  and  Nayan- 
taquits  resolve  to  live  and  die  together,  and  not  to  yield 
up  one.  Last  night  tidings  came  that  the  Mohawks, 
(the  cannibals,)  have  slain  some  of  our  countrymen 
at  Connecticut.      I  hope  it  is  not  true. 

To  John  Winthrop,  Governor,  £sV. 


[For   his  Much  Honored  Mr.  Governor,  John 
Winthrop.] 

Providence,  [June,  1638.] 
Sir,  —  I  sometimes  fear  that  my  lines  are  as  thick 
and  over  busy  as  the  musketoes,  &c,  but   your  wis- 
dom will  connive,  and  your  love  will  cover,  &c. 
Two  things  at  present  for  information. 


TO   GOVERNOR   WINTHROP.  1 99 

First  in  the  affairs  of  the  Most  High  ;  his  late 
dreadful  voice  and  hand  :  that  audible  and  sensible 
voice,  the  Earthquake. 

All  these  parts  felt  it,  (whether  beyond  the  Nar- 
ragansett  I  yet  learn  not),  for  myself  I  scarce  per- 
ceived ought  but  a  kind  of  thunder  and  a  gentle 
moving,  &c,  and  yet  it  was  no  more  this  way  to 
many  of  our  own  and  the  natives'  apprehensions,  and 
but  one  sudden  short  motion. 

The  younger  natives  are  ignorant  of  the  like  :  but 
the  elder  inform  me  that  this  is  the  fifth  within  these 
four  score  years  in  the  land  :  the  first  about  three 
score  and  ten  years  since  :  the  second  some  three 
score  and  four  years  since,  the  third  some  fifty-four 
years  since,  the  fourth  some  forty-six  since  :  and  they 
always  observed  either  plague  or  pox  or  some  other 
epidemical  disease  followed  ;  three,  four  or  five  years 
after  the  Earthquake,  (or  Naunaumemoauke,  as  they 
speak ) . 

He  be  mercifully  pleased  himself  to  interpret  and 
open  his  own  riddles,  and  grant  if  it  be  pleasing  in 
his  eyes)  it  may  not  be  for  destruction,  and  but  (as 
the  Earthquake  before  the  Jailor's  conversion)  a  means 
of  shaking  and  turning  of  all  hearts,  (which  are  his,) 
English  or  Indian,  to  him.  To  further  this  (if  the 
Lord  please)  the  Earthquake  sensibly  took  about  a 
thousand  of  the  natives  in  a  most  solemn  meeting  for 
play,  &c. 

Secondly,  a  word  in  mine  own  particular,  only 
for  information.  I  owe  between  50  and  60//  to  Mr. 
Cradock  for  commodities  received  from  Mr.  Mayhew. 
Mr.  Mayhew  will  testify  that  (being  Mr.  Cradock' s 
agent)  he  was  content  to  take  payment,  what  (and 


200  ROGER   WILLIAMS. 

when)  my  house  at  Salem  yielded  :  accordingly  I 
long  since  put  it  into,  his  hand,  and  he  into  Mr. 
Jollies',  who  beside  my  voluntary  act  and  his  attach- 
ment since,  sues  as  I  hear  for  damages,  which  I 
question  :  since  I  have  not  failed  against  contract  and 
content  of  the  first  agent,  but  the  holy  pleasure  of  the 
Lord  be  done  :  unto  whose  merciful  arms  (with  all 
due  respects)  I  leave  you,  wishing  heartily  that  mercy 
and  goodness  may  ever  follow  you  and  yours. 

Roger  Williams. 

Sir,  to  your  dear  companion,  Mr.  Deputy,  Mr. 
Bellingham,  and  theirs,  all  respective  salutes,  &c. 


TO    THE   TOWN    OF    PROVIDENCE. 

August  31,  1648. 
Worthy  Friends,  that  ourselves  and  all  men 
are  apt  and  prone  to  differ,  it  is  no  new  thing.  In 
all  former  ages,  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  in  these 
parts,  and  in  our  dear  native  country  and  mournful 
state  of  England,  that  either  part  or  party  is  most 
right  in  his  own  eyes,  his  cause  right,  his  carriage 
right,  his  arguments  right,  his  answers  right,  is  as 
woefully  and  constantly  true  as  the  former.  And 
experience  tells  us,  that  when  the  God  of  peace  have 
taken  peace  from  the  earth,  one  spark  of  action,  word 
or  carriage  is  too  powerful  to  kindle  such  a  fire  as 
burns  up  towns,  cities,  armies,  navies,  nations,  and 
kingdoms.  And  since,  dear  friends,  it  is  an  honor 
for  men  to  cease  from  strife  ;  since  the  life  of  love-  is 
sweet,  and  union  is  as  strong  as  sweet ;  and  since  you 


TO   THE   TOWN   OF    PROVIDENCE.       201 

have  been  lately  pleased  to  call  me  to  some  public 
service  and  my  soul  hath  been  long  musing  how  I 
might  bring  water  to  quench,  and  not  oil  or  fluid  to 
the  flame,  I  am  now  humbly  bold  to  beseech  you,  by 
all  those  comforts  of  earth  and  heaven  which  a  placa- 
ble and  peaceable  spirit  will  bring  to  you,  and  by  all 
those  dreadful  alarms  and  warnings,  either  amongst 
ourselves,  in  deaths  and  sicknesses,  or  abroad  in  the 
raging  calamities  of  the  sword,  death  and  pestilence ; 
I  say,  I  humbly  and  earnestly  beseech  you  to  be  will- 
ing to  be  pacifiable,  willing  to  be  reconcilable,  willing 
to  be  sociable,  and  to  listen  to  the  (I  hope  not  unrea- 
sonable) motion  following:  — 

To  try  out  matters  by  disputes  and  writings  is 
sometimes  endless ;  to  try  out  arguments  by  arms  and 
swords  is  cruel  and  merciless ;  to  trouble  the  state  and 
Lords  of  England  is  most  unreasonable,  most  charge- 
able ;  to  trouble  our  neighbors  of  other  colonies  seems 
neither  safe  nor  honorable.  Methinks,  dear  friends, 
the  colony  now  looks  with  the  torn  face  of  two  parties, 
and  that  the  greater  number  of  Portsmouth,  with 
other  loving  friends  adhering  to  them,  appear  as  one 
grieved  party ;  the  other  three  towns,  or  greater  part 
of  them,  appear  to  be  another  :  Let  each  party 
choose  and  nominate  three  :  Portsmouth  and  friends 
adhering  three,  the  other  party  three,  one  out  of  each 
town  ;  let  authority  be  given  to  them  to  examine 
every  public  difference,  grievance,  and  obstruction 
of  justice,  peace,  and  common  safety  ;  let  them,  by 
one  final  sentence  of  all,  or  the  greater  part  of  them, 
end  all,  and  set  the  whole  into  an  unanimous  posture 
and  order,  and  let  them  set  a  censure  upon  any  that  shall 
oppose  their  sentence.      One  log,  without  your  gentle 


202  ROGER    WILLIAMS. 

help,  I  cannot  stir  ;  it  is  this  :  How  shall  the  minds 
of  the  towns  be  known  ?  How  shall  the  persons 
chosen  be  called?  Time  and  place  appointed  in  any 
expedition  ?  For  myself,  I  can  thankfully  embrace 
the  help  of  Mr.  Coddington  or  Mr.  Clarke,  joined 
or  apart,  but  how  many  are  there  who  will  attend, 
(as  our  distempers  are)  to  neither?  It  is,  gentle- 
men, in  the  power  of  the  body  to  require  the  help 
of  any  of  her  members,  and  both  King  and  Parlia- 
ment plead,  that  in  extraordinary  cases  they  have  been 
forced  to  extraordinary  ways  for  common  safety. 
Let  me  be  friendly  construed,  if  (for  expedition)  I 
am  bold  to  be  too  forward  in  this  service,  and  to  say 
that  if  within  twenty  days  of  the  date  thereof,  you 
please  to  send  to  my  house,  at  Providence,  the  name 
of  him  whcm  you  please  to  nominate,  at  your  desire 
I  will  acquaint  all  the  persons  chosen  with  place  and 
time,  unto  which  in  your  name  I  shall  desire  their 
meeting  within  ten  days,  or  thereabouts,  after  the 
receipt  of  your  letter.  I  am  your  mournful  and  un- 
worthy Roger  Williams. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    THE    FAMOUS    LET- 
TER  TO    GOVERNOR    ENDICOTT. 

[Published  in  "The  Bloody  Tenent  yet   More 
Bloody."      165 1 .] 

August,    1651. 
The  Maker  and  Searcher  or  our  hearts  knows  with 
what  bitterness  I    write,    as    with   bitterness  of  soul 
I    have    heard    such    language    as    to    proceed    from 


TO   GOVERNOR    ENDICOTT.  203 

yourself  and  others,  who  formerly  have  fled  from 
(with  crying  out  against)  persecutors  !  [You  wili 
say  this  is  your  conscience  :  You  will  say  you  are 
persecuted,  and  you  are  persecuted  for  your  con- 
science. No  ;  you  are  Conventiclers,  heretics,  blas- 
phemers, seducers.  You  deserve  to  be  hanged  ; 
rather  than  one  shall  be  wanting  to  hang  him  I  will 
hang  him  myself.  I  am  resolved  not  to  leave  an 
heretic  in  the  country  ;  I  had  rather  so  many  whores 
and  whoremongers  and  thieves  came  amongst  us]. 
Oh,  sir,  you  cannot  forget  what  language  and  dia- 
lect this  is,  whether  not  the  same  unsavory  and  un- 
godly, blasphemous  and  bloody,  which  the  Gardiners 
and  Bonners,  both  former  and  latter  used  to  all  that 
bowed  not  to  the  state  golden  image  of  what  con- 
science soever  they  were.  And  indeed,  sir,  if  the 
Most  High  be  pleased  to  awaken  you  to  render  unto 
his  holy  Majesty  his  due  praises,  in  your  truly  broken- 
hearted confessions  and  supplications,  you  will  then 
proclaim  to  all  the  world,  that  what  professions  so- 
ever you  made  of  the  Lamb,  yet  these  expressions 
could  not  proceed  from  the  dragon's  mouth. 

Oh  remember,  and  the  most  holy  Lord  bring  it 
to  your  remembrance,  that  you  have  now  a  great 
price  in  your  hand,  to  bring  great  glory  to  his  holy 
name,  great  rejoicing  to  so  gracious  a  Redeemer  (in 
whom  you  profess  is  all  your  healing  and  salvation), 
great  rejoicing  to  the  holy  Spirit  of  all  true  consola- 
tion, whom  yet  so  long  you  who  have  grieved  and 
sadded,  great  rejoicing  to  those  blessed  spirits  (at- 
tending upon  the  Lamb,  and  all  his,  and  terrible  to 
his  persecutors),  great  rejoicing  and  instruction  to  all 
that  love  the  true  Lord  Jesus  (notwithstanding  their 


204  ROGER   WILLIAMS. 

wanderings  among  so  many  false  Christs),  mourning 
and  lamenting  after  him  in  all  parts  of  the  world 
where  his  name  is  sounded.  Your  talents  are  great, 
your  fall  hath  been  so ;  your  eminency  is  great,  the 
glory  of  the  Most  High  in  mercy  or  justice  toward 
you  will  be  great  also. 

Oh  remember  it  is  a  dangerous  combat  for  the 
potsherds  of  the  earth  to  fight  with  their  dreadful 
Potter.  It  is  a  dismal  battle  for  poor  naked  feet  to 
kick  against  the  pricks  ;  it  is  a  dreadful  voice  from  the 
King  of  kings,  and  Lord  of  lords,  "  Endicott,  Endi- 
cott>  why  huntest  thou  me?  why  imprisonest  thou 
me  ?  why  finest,  why  so  bloodily  whippest,  why 
wouldest  thou  (did  not  I  hold  thy  bloody  hands) 
hang  and  burn  me?"  Yea,  sir,  I  beseech  you  re- 
member that  it  is  a  dangerous  thing  to  put  this  to  the 
may  be,  to  the  venture  or  hazard,  to  the  possibility. 
Is  it  possible  (may  you  well  say)  that  since  I  hunt, 
I  hunt  not  the  life  of  my  Saviour,  and  the  blood  of 
the  Lamb  of  God  ?  I  have  fought  against  many  sev- 
eral sorts  of  consciences,  is  it  beyond  all  possibility 
and  hazard,  that  I  have  not  fought  against  God,  that 
I  have  not  persecuted  Jesus  in  some  of  them  ? 

Sir,  I  must  be  humbly  bold  to  say,  that  'tis  impos- 
sible for  any  man  or  men  to  maintain  their  Christ  by 
their  sword,  and  to  worship  a  true  Christ  !  to  fight 
against  all  consciences  opposite  to  theirs,  and  not  to 
fight  against  God  in  some  of  them,  and  to  hunt  after 
the  precious  life  of  the  true  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Oh 
remember  whither  your  principles  and  consciences 
must  in  time  and  opportunity  force  you.  'Tis  but 
worldly  policy  and  compliance  with  men  and  times 
(God's    mercy   overruling)    that    holds    your    hands 


TO  GOVERNOR  WINTHROP.    205 

from  murdering  of  thousands  and  ten  thousands  were 
your  power  and  command  as  great  as  once  the  bloody 
Roman  Emperors'  was.    .    .    . 

Oh  remember  once  again  (as  I  began),  and  I 
humbly  desire  to  remember  with  you,  that  every  gray 
hair  now  on  both  our  heads  is  a  Boanerges,  a  son  of 
thunder,  and  a  warning  piece  to  prepare  us  for  the 
weighing  of  our  last  anchors,  and  to  be  gone  from 
hence,  as  if  we  had  never  been. 

'Twas  mercy  infinite,  that  stopped  provoked  justice 
from  blowing  out  our  candle's  in  our  youths,  but  now 
the  feeding  substance  of  the  candle's  gone,  and  'tis 
impossible  without  repentance  to  recall  our  actions  ! 
nay,  with  repentance  to  recall  our  minutes  past  us. 

TO  MY  HONOR'D,  KIND  FRIEND,  MR. 
JOHN  WINTHROP,  GOVERNOR,  AT 
HARTFORD,    ON    CONNECTICUT. 

Providence,  6,  12,  59-60. 
Sir, — Loving  respects  to  yourself  and  Mrs.  Win- 
throp,  &c.  Your  loving  lines  in  this  cold  dead  season 
were  as  a  cup  of  your  Connecticut  cider,  which  we 
are  glad  to  hear  abounds  with  you,  or  of  that  western 
metheglin,  which  you  and  I  have  drunk  at  Bristol 
together,  &c.  Indeed,  it  is  the  wonderful  power  and 
goodness  of  God,  that  we  are  preserved  in  our  dis- 
persions among  these  wild,  barbarous  wretches.  I  hear 
not  of  their  excursions  this  winter,  and  should  rejoice 
if,  as  you  hint,  Uncas  and  his  brother  were  removed 
to  Long  Island,  or  any  where,  or  else,  as  I  have 
somtimes  motioned,   a  truce  for  some  good  term  of 


206  ROGER   WILLIAMS. 

years  might  be  obtained  amongst  them.  But  now 
should  we  expect  that  the  streams  of  blood  should 
stop  among  the  dregs  of  mankind  when  the  bloody 
issues  flow  so  fresh  and  fearfully  among  the  finest 
and  most  refined  sons  of  men  and  sons  of  God.  We 
have  not  only  heard  of  the  four  northern  nations, 
Dania,  Swedia,  Anglia,  and  Belgium,  all  Protestants, 
(heretics  and  dogs,  with  the  Pope  &c.)  last  year 
tearing  and  devouring  one  another,  in  the  narrow 
straits  and  eminent  high  passages  and  turns  of  the  sea 
and  world  :  but  we  also  have  a  sound  of  the  Presby- 
terians' rage  new  burst  out  into  flames  of  war  from 
Scotland,  and  the  independent  and  sectarian  army 
provoked  again  to  new  appeals  to  God,  and  engage- 
ments against  them. 

Thus,  while  this  last  Pope  hath  plied  with  sails 
and  oars,  and  brought  all  his  popish  sons  to  peace, 
except  Portugal,  and  brought  in  his  grand  engineers, 
the  Jesuits,  again  to  Venice,  after  their  long  just  banish- 
ment, we  Protestants  are  woefully  disposed  to  row 
backward,  and  bring  our  sails  aback-stays,  and  pro- 
voke the  holy,  jealous  Lord,  who  is  a  consuming  fire, 
to  kindle  again  those  fires  from  Rome  and  hell,  which 
formerly  consumed  (in  Protestant  countries)  so  many 
precious  servants  of  God.  The  late  renowned  Oliver, 
confessed  to  me,  in  close  discourse  about  the  Protes- 
tants' affairs,  &c.  that  he  yet  feared  great  persecutions  to 
the  Protestants  from  the  Romanists,  before  the  down- 
fall of  the  Papacy.  The  histories  of  our  fathers 
before  us  tell  us  what  huge  bowls  of  the  blood  of 
the  saints  that  great  whore  hath  been  drunk  with,  in 
(now)  Protestant  dominions.  Sure  her  judgment 
will   ring  through  the  world,  and  it  is  hoped  it  is  not 


TO  GOVERNOR  WINTHROP.     207 

far  from  the  door.  Sir,  you  were,  not  long  since, 
the  son  of  two  noble  fathers,  Mr.  John  Winthrop 
and  Mr.  H.  Peters.  It  is  said  they  are  both  extin- 
guished. Surely,  I  did  ever,  from  my  soul,  honor 
and  love  them  even  when  their  judgments  led  them 
to  afflict  me.  Yet  the  Father  of  Spirits  spares  us 
breath,  and  I  rejoice,  Sir,  that  your  name  (amongst 
the  New  England  magistrates  printed,  to  the  Parlia- 
ment and  army  by  H.  Nort.  Rous,  &c. , )  is  not  blurred, 
but  rather  honored,  for  your  prudent  and  moderate 
hand  in  the  late  Quakers'  trials  amongst  us.  And  it 
is  said  that  in  the  late  Parliament  yourself  were  one 
of  the  three  in  nomination  for  General  Governor  over 
New  England,  which  however  that  design  ripened 
not,  yet  your  name  keeps  up  a  high  esteem,  &c.  I 
have  seen  your  hand  to  a  letter  to  this  colony,  as  to 
your  late  purchase  of  some  land  at  Narragansett. 
The  fight  of  your  hand  hath  quieted  some  jealousies 
amongst  us,  that  the  Bay,  by  this  purchase,  designed 
some  prejudice  to  the  liberty  of  conscience  amongst 
us.  We  are  in  consultation  how  to  answer  that 
letter,  and  my  endeavor  shall  be,  with  God's  help, 
to  welcome,  with  both  our  hands  and  arms,  your 
interest  in  these  parts,  though  we  have  no  hope  to 
enjoy  your  personal  residence  amongst  us.  I  rejoice 
to  hear  that  you  gain,  by  new  plantations,  upon  this  • 
wilderness.  I  fear  that  many  precious  souls  will  be 
glad  to  hide  their  heads,  shortly,  in  these  parts. 
Your  candle  and  mine  draws  towards  its  end.  The 
LorS  graciously  help  us  to  shine  in  light  and  love 
universally,  to  all  that  fear  his  name,  without  that 
monopoly  of  affection  to  such  of  our  own  persua- 
sion only  ;  for  the  common  enemy,  the  Romish  wolf, 


208  ROGER   WILLIAMS. 

is  very  high  in  resolution,  and  hope,  and  advantage 
to  make  a  prey  on  all,  of  all  sorts  that  desire  to  fear 
God.  Divers  of  our  neighbors  thankfully  re-salute 
you.  We  have  buried,  this  winter,  Mr  Olney's 
son,  whom,  formerly,  you  heard  to  be  afflicted  with 
a  lethargy.  He  lay  two  or  three  days  wholly  sense- 
less, until  his  last  groans.  My  youngest  son,  Joseph, 
was  troubled  with  a  spice  of  epilepsy.  We  used  some 
remedies,  but  it  hath  pleased  God,  by  his  taking  of 
tobacco,  perfectly,  as  we  hope,  to  cure  him.  Good 
Mr.  Parker,  of  Boston,  passing  from  Prudence  Island, 
at  his  coming  on  shore,  on  Seekonk  land,  trod  awry 
upon  a  stone  or  stick,  and  fell  down,  and  broke  the 
small  bone  of  his  leg.  He  hath  lain  by  of  it  all  this 
winter,  and  the  last  week  was  carried  to  Boston  in  a 
horse  litter.  Some  fears  there  was  of  a  gangrene. 
But,  Sir,  I  use  too  much  boldness  and  prolixity. 
I  shall  now  only  subscribe  myself 

Your  unworthy  friend, 

Roger  Williams. 

Sir,  my  loving  respects  to  Mr.  Stone,  Mr.  Lord, 
Mr.  Allen,  Mr.  Webster,  and  other  loving  friends. 


•EXTRACTS   FROM  A  LETTER  CONCERN- 
ING  AN   INTERCOLONIAL  DISPUTE. 

Providence,  22  June,  1670,  (Ut.  Vulgo.) 
Major    Mason,  —  My  honored   dear  and   ancient 

friend.      My  due  respects  and  earnest  desires  to  God 

for  your  eternal  peace,  etc. 

I  crave  your  leave  and  patience  to  present  you  with 


AN    INTERCOLONIAL   DISPUTE.        209 

some  few  considerations  occasioned  by  the  late  trans- 
actions between  your  colony  and  ours.1  The  last 
year  you  were  pleased,  in  one  of  your  lines  to  me,  to 
tell  me  that  you  longed  to  see  my  face  once  more  be- 
fore you  died  :  I  embrace  your  love,  though  I  feared 
my  old  lame  bones,  and  yours,  had  arrested  travelling 
in  this  world,  and  therefore  I  was  and  am  ready 
to  lay  hold  on  all  occasions  of  writing  as  I  do  at 
present.    .    .    . 

Sir,  I  am  not  out  of  hopes  but  that  while  your  aged 
eyes  and  mine  are  yet  in  their  orbs,  and  not  yet  sunk 
down  into  their  holes  of  rottenness,  we  shall  leave  our 
friends  and  countrymen,  our  children  and  relations 
and  this  land  in  peace  behind  us.  To  this  end,  Sir, 
please  you  with  a  calm  and  steady  and  a  christian 
hand,  to  hold  the  balance  and  to  weigh  these  few 
considerations,  in  much  love  and  due  respect  presented. 

First,  when  I.  was  unkindly  and  unchristianly,  as  I 
believe,  driven  from  my  house  and  land  and  wife  and 
children  (in  the  midst  of  a  New-England  winter,  now 
about  thirty-five  years  past)  at  Salem,  that  ever  hon- 
ored Governor  Mr.  Winthrop  privately  wrote  to  me 
to  steer  my  course  to  Narragansett-Bav  and  Indians 
for  many  high  and  heavenly  and  public  ends,  encour- 
aging me  from  the  freeness  of  the  place  from  any 
English  claims  or  patents.  I  took  his  prudent  mo- 
tion as  an  hint  and  voice  from  God  and  waiving  all 
other  thoughts  and  motions,  I  steered  my  course  from 
Salem  (though  in  winter  snow  which  I  feel  yet)  unto 
these  parts,  wherein  I  may  say  Peniel,  that  is,  I  have 
seen  the  face  of  God. 

*Over  a  question  of  jurisdiction  —  Rhode  Island  protested 
against  invasions  by  Connecticut.  . 


210  ROGER  WILLIAMS. 

Second,  I  first  pitch' t,  and  began  to  build  and 
plant  at  Seekonk,  now  Rehoboth,  but  I  received  a  letter 
from  my  ancient  friend,  Mr.  Winslow,  then  Governor 
of  Plymouth,  professing  his  own  and  others'  love  and 
respect  to  me,  yet  lovingly  advising  me,  since  I  was 
fallen  into  the  edge  of  their  bounds  and  they  were 
loth  to  displease  the  Bay,  to  remove  but  to  the  other 
side  of  the  water  and  then  he  said  I  had  the  country 
free  before  me  and  might  be  as  free  as  themselves  and 
we  should  be  loving  neighbors  together.  These  were 
the  joint  understandings  of  these  two  eminently  wise 
and  christian  Governors  and  others,  in  their  day,  to- 
gether with  their  counsel  and  advice  as  to  the  freedom 
and  vacancy  of  this  place,  which  in  this  respect  and 
many  other  providences  of  the  most  holy  and  only 
wise,  I  called  Providence.   *  *  * 

5.  Considering  (upon  frequent  exceptions  against 
Providence  men)  that  we  had  no  authority  for  civil 
government,  I  went  purposely  to  England  and  upon 
my  report  and  petition,  the  Parliament  granted  us  a 
charter  of  government  for  these  parts,  so  judged  va- 
cant on  all  hands.  And  upon  this  the  country  about 
us  was  more  friendly,  and  wrote  to  us  and  treated  us 
as  an  authorised  colony  ;  only  the  differences  of  our 
consciences  much  obstructed.  The  bounds  of  this  our 
first  charter  I  (having  ocular  knowledge  of  persons, 
places  and  transactions)  did  honestly  and  conscien- 
tiously, as  in  the  holy  presence  of  God,  draw  up  from 
Pawcatuck  river,  which  I  then  believed  and  still  do, 
is  free  from  all  English  claims  and  conquests  ;  *  *  * 

10.  Alas,  Sir,  in  calm  midnight  thoughts,  what 
are  these  leaves  and  flowers,  and  smoke  and  shadows, 
ajid  dreams  of  earthly  nothings,  about  which  we  poor 


VERSES.  211 

fools  and  children,  as  David  saith,  disquiet  ourselves 
in  vain  ?  Alas,  what  is  all  the  scuffling  of  this  world 
for  but,  come  will  you  smoke  it  ?  What  are  all  the 
contentions  and  wars  of  this  world  about,  generally, 
but  for  greater  dishes  and  bowls  of  porridge,  of  which, 
if  we  believe  God's  spirit  in  Scripture,  Esau  and  Jacob 
were  types  ?  .    .   . 

...  I  know  you  are  both  of  you  hot,  I  fear  my- 
self also.  If  both  desire,  in  a  loving  and  calm  spirit,  to 
enjoy  your  rights  I  promise  you,  with  God's  help,  to 
help  you  to  them  in  a  fair  and  sweet  and  easy  way. 
—  My  receipt  will  not  please  you  all.  If  it  should 
so  please  God  to  frown  upon  us  that  you  should  not 
like  it,  I  can  but  humbly  mourn  and  say  with  the 
Prophet  that  which  must  perish,  must  perish.  And 
as  to  myself  in  endeavouring  after  your  temporal  and 
spiritual  peace,  I  humbly  desire  to  say,  if  I  perish,  I 
perish  —  It  is  but  a  shadow  vanished,  a  bubble  broke, 
a  dream  finish' t  —  eternity  will  pay  for  all. 

Sir,  I  am  your  old  and  true  friend  and  servant, 
Roger   Williams. 


VERSES. 
[From  "A  Key  into  the  Language  of  America." 

,643.] 

If  birds  that  neither  sow  nor  reap 

Nor  store  up  any  food, 
Constantly  find  to  them  and  theirs 

A  maker  kind  and  good  ! 


212  ROGER   WILLIAMS. 

If  man  provide  eke  for  his  birds, 

In  yard,  in  coops,  in  cage, 
And  each  bird  spends  in  songs  and  tunes 

His  little  time  and  age  ! 

What  care  will  man,  what  care  will  God, 
For's  wife  and  children  take? 

Millions  of  birds  and  worlds  will  God 
Sooner  than  his  forsake. 


Years  thousands  since  God  gave  command, 

As  we  in  Scripture  find, 
That  earth  and  trees  and  shrubs  should  bring 

Forth  fruits  each  in  his  kind. 

The  wilderness  remembers  this; 

The  wild  and  howling  land 
Answers  the  toiling  labor  of 

The  wildest  Indian's  hand. 

But  man  forgets  his  maker,  who 

Framed  him  in  righteousness, 
A  Paradise  in  Paradise  now  worse 

Than  Indian  wilderness. 


When  sun  doth  rise  the  stars  do  set, 
Yet  there  's  no  need  of  light, 

God  shines  a  sun  most  glorious, 
When  creatures  all  are  night. 


VERSES.  213 

The  very  Indian  boys  can  give 

To  many  stars  their  name, 
And  know  their  course,  and  therein  do 

Excel  the  English  tame. 

English  and  Indians  none  inquire, 
Whose  hand  these  candles  hold, 

Who  gives  these  stars  their  names,  himself 
More  bright  ten  thousand-fold. 


THOMAS    HOOKER. 

Thomas  Hooker,  one  of  the  most  eloquent  and 
influential  of  the  early  Puritan  clergy,  was  born  in 
Markfield,  -Leicestershire,  in  1586,  and  died  in 
Hartford,  Connecticut,  in  1647.  Like  many  of 
his  fellow  ministers,  he  was  a  Cambridge  graduate 
and  fellow,  and  was  advancing  to  distinction  when, 
in  1630,  he  was  silenced  by  Archbishop  Laud.  He 
was  Anglican  in  doctrine,  but  objected  to  the  cere- 
monial of  the  English  Church.  He  taught  school 
for  a  time  with  John  Eliot,  the  future  apostle  to  the 
Indians,  as  his  assistant,  but  he  was  still  subjected  to 
persecution,  and  fled  to  Holland,  whence  he  emi- 
grated in  1633  to  New  England  in  the  same  ship 
with  John  Cotton  and  the  almost  equally  distinguished 
Samuel  Stone.  Five  weeks  after  his  landing,  Hooker 
obtained  a  pastorate,  and  three  years  later  migrated 
with  his  entire  congregation  to  the  Connecticut  River, 
where  they  founded  Hartford.  Hooker  was  identi- 
fied with  all  the  great  political  and  religious  move- 
ments in  the  young  colony,  especially  with  the  framing 
of  the  famous  constitution.  He  was  a  man  of  command- 
ing character,  in  politics  liberal  and  almost  democratic, 
but  in  his  church  ruling  with  a  rod  of  iron  as  prophet, 
priest,  and  king,  as  confessor,  too,  and  exhorter  of 
the  minatory  type.  His  power  to  foretell  events 
seems  to  have  been  believed  in  both  by  himself  and  by 
his  parishioners.  His  style  is  often  less  involved,  and 
214 


THOMAS   HOOKER.  21  5 

therefore  more  forcible  and  readable  than  that  of  many 
of  his  contemporaries,  for  he  constantly  remembered 
the  limitations  of  the  human  ear,  and  framed  his  dis- 
courses accordingly.  His  sermons  and  numerous 
treatises  must  have  been  read  with  a  fearful  joy  of 
terror,  so  long  as  the  theology  that  they  represented 
was  a  matter  of  belief  or  even  of  profession. 

A  SURVEY  of  the  Summe  of  Church-Discipline, 
WHEREIN  the  Way  of  the  CHURCHES  of  NEW 
ENGLAND  is  Warranted  out  of  the  Word,  and  all 
Exceptions  of  Weight,  which  are  made  against  it, 
answered:  Whereby  also  it  will  appear  to  the  Judi- 
cious Reader,  that  something  more  must  be  said,  then 
yet  hath  been,  before  their  Principles  can  be  shaken, 
or  they  should  be  unsetled  in  their  practice,  By 
Thos.  Hooker,  late  Pastor  of  the  Church  at  Hart- 
fordupon  Connecticott  in  N.E.     [London,  1648.] 

[From  the  Preface.1] 

Truth  is  the  Daughter  of  time,  was  the  saying  of 
old,  and  our  daily  experience  gives  in  evidence  and 
proof  hereof,  to  every  man's  ordinary  observation. 
Only  as  in  other  births,  so  here,  the  barrenness  and 
fruitfulness  of  several  ages,  depend  merely  upon 
God's  good  pleasure ;  who  opens  and  shuts  the 
womb  of  truth  from  bearing,  as  he  sees  fit,  according 
to  the  counsel  of  his  own  will. 

Not  that  there  is  any  change  in  the  truth,  but  the 
alteration  grows,  according  to  men's  apprehensions, 

1  The  marginal  references  are  omitted.  The  long  title  is  not 
typographically  exact. 


2l6  THOMAS    HOOKER. 

to  whom  it  is  more  or  less  discovered,  according  to 
God's  most  just  judgment,  and  their  own  deservings. 

Sometimes  God  makes  an  eclipse  of  the  truth  at 
midday,  that  so  he  might  express  his  wrath  from 
Heaven,  against  the  unthankfulness,  prophaneness, 
and  atheism  of  a  malignant  world. 

Hence  it  was  he  let  loose  those  hellish  delusions, 
immediately  after  the  Ascension  of  our  Saviour  ;  That 
though  his  life  and  conversation  gave  in  evidence  be- 
yond gainsaying,  that  he  was  true  man  :  Though 
the  miracles  and  wonders  he  wrought  in  his  life  and 
death,  resurrection  and  ascension,  were  witnesses  un- 
deniable, that  he  was  true  God  :  yet  there  arose  a 
wretched  generation  of  heretics,  in  the  first,  second, 
and  third  hundred  years,  who  adventured  not  only 
against  the  express  verdict  of  the  Scripture,  but 
against  sense  and  experience,  fresh  in  the  observa- 
tion and  tradition  of  living  men,  with  more  than 
Satanical  impudency  to  deny  both  the  natures  of 
our  blessed   Saviour. 

Some  denied  the  deity  of  our  Saviour,  and  would 
have  him  mere  man.  As  Ebrion,  Cerinthus,  Mon- 
tanus,  &c.  Others  deny  him  to  be  true  man,  as  the 
Gnostici,  Valentiniani,  Marrionitae. 

Sometimes  when  men  entertain  the  truth  in  profes- 
sion, but  not  in  the  love  of  it,  and  that  endeared 
affection,  that  is  due  thereunto,  the  Lord  gives  men 
up  to  the  activity  of  error,  as  the  Apostle  speaks, 
because  they  did  not  love,  that  the  truth  should  be 
truth,  they  embraced  falsehood  instead  of  truth,  that 
so  they  might  be  deluded  and  damned.  This  made 
way  for  Antichrist,  and  did  midwife  that  man  of  sin 
into  the  world,  and  by  little  and  little  advanced  him 


THOMAS   HOOKER.  21  7 

into  his  throne.  For  while  men  did  verbally  acknowl- 
edge the  nature  and  offices  of  our  Saviour,  they  did 
begin,  though  subtilly,  yet  really,  to  usurp  the  honor 
and  exercise  of  all  to  themselves. 

First,  They  began  to  encroach  upon  the  Priestly 
Office  of  our  Saviour,  and  not  only  to  pray  for  the 
dead,  but  to  pray  to  them,  and  to  attribute  too 
much  to  the  martyrs  and  their  worth  ;  and  to  dero- 
gate from  the  merits,  and  that  plentiful  and  perfect 
redemption  wrought  alone  by  the  Lord  Jesus.  The 
Spouse  of  Christ  thus,  like  the  unwise  virgins,  was 
taken  aside  with  the  slumber  of  idolatry,  till  at  last 
she  fell  fast  asleep  as  the  following  times  give  in 
abundant  testimony.    .    .    . 

And  thus  at  once  they  usurped  upon  the  Propheti- 
cal and  justled  our  Saviour  also  out  of  his  Regal 
officet  for  so  they  are  linked  together  by  the  Prophet. 
He  is  our  King,  he  is  our  Law-giver  ;  it  is  in  his 
power  and  pleasure  to  provide  his  own  laws,  and  ap- 
point the  ways  of  his  own  worship. 

Thus  were  the  Offices  of  our  Saviour  secretly  and  cun- 
ningly undermined  till  at  last  that  man  of  sin,  seeing  his 
time,  and  taking  his  advantage,  adventured  openly  and 
impudently  to  challenge  the  chair  of  supremacy. 

Boniface  the  Third  obtained  by  policy  and  treach- 
ery, at  the  hand  of  Phocas  for  himself  and  his  suc- 
cessors, that  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  should  be  the  head 
and  chief  Bishop  of  all  Christian  Churches. 

But  the  one  sword  was  not  sufficient  for  Hilde- 
brand,  He  rested  not,  until  by  his  hellish  contrive- 
ments  he  had  got  two  swords,  to  fill  both  his  hands 
withal,  and  a  triple-crown  upon  his  head,  and  carried 
it  with  mighty  violence  against  the  imperial  majesty  : 


21  8  THOMAS   HOOKER. 

that  whereas  no  Pope  in  former  times  might  be  chosen 
without  the  confirmation  of  the  Emperor  :  so  now  no 
Emperor  might  be  chosen  without  the  confirmation 
of  the  Pope  :  as  appears  in  the  story  of  Henry  the 
Emperor. 

Thus  while  the  Pope  pretended  to  be  the  Vicar 
and  Vicegerent  of  Christ,  to  supply  his  absence  here 
on  earth,  by  being  caput  minis teriale :  in  issue  he 
justled  him  out  of  the  room  and  right  of  his  Head- 
ship. 

He  makes  canons  to  bind  conscience,  and  so  as- 
sumes the  place  of  the  chief  Prophet  ;  Gives  dispen- 
sations, sends  out  indulgences,  sells  pardons,  retains, 
and  remits  sins,  improves  the  treasury  of  the  Church 
to  that  end,  and  so  challengeth  the  place  of  being  chief 
Priest.  Lastly,  arrogates  the  plenitude  and  supremacy 
of  power  in  causes  ecclesiastic  and  civil,  no  less  than 
two  swords  will  satisfy,  to  fill  both  his  hands,  and  a 
triple-crown  to  load  his  head  withal,  and  thereby 
arrogates  to  be  head  of  the  Church. 

When  God  had  revenged  the  contempt  of  the  au- 
thority of  his  son,  by  delivering  up  such  contemners 
to  the  tyranny  and  slavery  of  Antichrist,  by  the  space 
of  many  hundred  years  :  That  by  their  own  experi- 
ence they  came  to  know  the  difference  betwixt  the 
service  of  God,  and  the  slavery  of  men  :  the  golden 
scepter  of  Christ,  and  the  iron  rod  of  Antichrist ;  who 
tortured  their  consciences  upon  a  continual  rack,  held 
their  souls  smoking  over  the  mouth  of  the  bottomless 
pit,  put  them  into  hell,  and  plucked  them  out  at  his 
pleasure,  whence  men  desired  to  die,  rather  than  to 
live. 

They  then  began  to  sigh  for  some  deliverance  from 


THOMAS    HOOKER.  219 

this  spiritual,  more  than  Egyptian  bondage  ;  and  being 
thus  prepared  to  lend  a  listening  ear  unto  the  truth, 
God  sent  them  some  little  reviving  in  their  extremi- 
ties, a  day-star  arising  in  this  their  darkness. 

He  stirred  up  the  spirit  of  the  Waldenses,  Arma- 
chanus,  Wickliff,  Huss,  and  Jerome  of  Prague,  who 
openly  proclaimed  the  usurpations  of  that  man  of  sin, 
stoutly  asserted  the  fulness  and  sufficiency  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, cleared  and  maintained  the  deciding  authority 
thereof  in  all  the  ways  and  worship  of  God,  and  so 
set  up  the  Lord  Jesus,  as  the  only  Prophet  of  his 
Church. 

After  them  succeeded  Luther,  who  made  a  spoil 
of  the  Pope's  treasury,  marred  wholly  his  market,  and 
the  sale  of  his  indulgencies,  and  so  wonderfully  cooled 
and  quenched  the  fire  of  Purgatory,  and  the  Pope's 
kitchen  :  that  his  holiness,  and  the  wretched  rabble 
of  all  his  black-guard,  were  forced  to  improve  all  their 
power  and  policy  to  crush  the  credit  of  that  champion, 
and  the  authority  of  that  doctrine  which  he  taught,  but 
all  in  vain.    .    .    . 

Only  the  Supremacy  of  that  Kingly  Power,  upon 
which  the  Pope  had  encroached,  and  maintained  the 
possession  thereof  so  long,  was  yet  retained  and  forti- 
fied (as  reason  would)  with  greatest  resolution,  nor 
could  he  suffer  the  appearance  of  any  approach  or  bat- 
tery to  be  erected,  that  might  seem  to  hazard  the  safety 
of  that,  but  he  sets  him  fully  and  fiercely  against  Ref- 
ormation, which  sticks  like  the  cunny-skin  at  the  head 
principally. 

Hence  for  the  surprisal  of  so  strong  a  piece,  the 
Lord  in  his  providence  provided  many  means  to  make 
approaches  thereunto  by  little  and  little.      The  Coun- 


220  THOMAS    HOOKER. 

cils  of  Constance  and  Basel  justled  the  Pope  to  the 
wall,  and  took  the  wall  of  him,  made  him  lower  than 
the  council,  but  let  him  enjoy  his  headship  over  all 
his  officers  and  particular  churches. 

King  Henry  the  Eighth,  he  further  clipped  his  wings 
in  temporals,  shook  off  and  renounced  that  supremacy 
that  he  had  arrogated  and  erected  over  kings  and  king- 
doms in  former  ages  :  Only  that  is  storied  of  him  as 
his  mistake,  he  cut  off  the  head  of  Popery,  but  left  the 
body  of  it  (in  Arch-Bishops,  Primates,  Metropolitans, 
Archdeacons, )  yet  within  his  realm,  and  the  Churches 
there  established. 

He  that  will  estrange  his  affection  because  of  the 
difference  of  apprehension  in  things  difficult  he  must 
be  a  stranger  to  himself  one  time  or  other.  If  men 
would  be  tender  and  careful  to  keep  off  offensive  ex- 
pressions they  might  keep  some  distance  in  opinion 
in  some  things  without  hazard  to  truth  or  love,  but 
when  men  set  up  their  sheaves  (though  it  be  but  in 
a  dream  as  Joseph's  was)  and  fall  out  with  every  one 
that  will  not  fall  down  and  adore  them,  they  will  bring 
much  trouble  into  the  world,  but  little  advantage  to  the 
truth  or  peace.    .    .    . 

The  sum  is,  we  doubt  not  what  we  practice,  but  it's 
beyond  all  doubt  that  all  men  are  liars  and  we  are  in 
the  number  of  those  poor  feeble  men,  either  we  do  or 
may  err,  though  we  do  not  know  it.  What  we  have 
learned  we  do  profess,  and  yet  profess  still  to  live  that 
we  may  learn.    .    .    . 

That  the  discourse  comes  forth  in  such  a  homely 
dress  and  coarse  habit,  the  reader  must  be  desired  to 
consider  it  comes  out  of  the  wilderness  where  curiosity 
is  not  studied.      Planters  if  they  can  provide  cloth  to 


THOMAS    HOOKER.  221 

go  warm,  they  leave  the  cuts  and  lace  to  those  that 
study  to  go  fine. 

As  it  is  beyond  my  skill,  so  I  profess  it  is  beyond 
my  care  to  please  the  niceness  of  men's  palates  with 
any  quaintness  of  language.  They  who  covet  more 
sauce  than  meat  they  must  provide  cooks  to  their 
mind.  It  was  a  cavil  cast  upon  Hierom,  that  in  his 
writings  he  was  Ciceronianus  non  Christianus.  My 
rudeness  frees  me  wholly  from  this  exception  ...  if 
I  would  I  could  not  lavish  out  in  looseness  of  language 
and,  as  the  case  stands,  if  I  could  answer  any  man's 
desire  in  that  daintiness  of  speech  I  would  not  do  the 
matter  that  injury  which  is  now  under  my  hand  : 
Ornari  res  ipsa  negat.  .  .  .  The  substance  and 
solidity  of  the  frame  is  that  which  pleaseth  the 
builder  ;  it's  the  painter's  work  to  provide  varnish. 


PART    III,    CHAPTER    III.        OF    CENSURES. 

The  Lord  Christ  being  a  tender-hearted  father  to 
his  Church  as  his  family  and  household,  he  hath  not 
only  provided  wholesome  and  choice  diet,  his  holy  and 
spiritual  ordinances  for  the  food  and  refreshing  of  the 
souls  of  his  faithful  .  .  .  but  he  hath  laid  in  purgatives 
as  well  as  restoratives,  and  out  of  his  infinite  wisdom, 
who  knows,  to  how  many  corrupt  distempers,  as  so 
many  hurtful  and  noisome  diseases  the  saints  are  subject 
unto,  he  hath  appointed  Church-censures  as  good 
physic  to  purge  out  what  is  evil.  .  .  .  And  his  yearn- 
ing compassion  hath  made  him  here  so  careful  that  he 
hath  appointed  each  particular  brother  as  a  skilful 
apothecary  to  help  forward  the  spiritual  health  of  all 


222  THOMAS    HOOKER. 

in  confederacy  with  him.  Hence  all  the  members 
are  made  (as  we  have  heard)  watchmen  over  the  wel- 
fare of  their  brethren,  and  by  virture  of  their  conso- 
ciation and  combination  have  power  over  each  other 
and  a  judicial  way  of  process  against  each  other  in  case 
of  any  sinful  aberration.  .  .  .  Private  oiFenses  appear 
only  to  few,  one  or  more  ;  and  therefore  they  only  are 
to  proceed  against  them,  in  covering  and  hiding  them 
from  the  apprehensions  of  others,  as  much  as  may  be  ; 
provided  they  can  thereby  attain  an  healing  of  them 
.  .  .  but  if  the  offense  be  famous  and  notorious  at 
the  first  practice  of  it,  as  open  drunkenness,  swearing, 
stealing,  lying,  or  that  a  brother,  according  to  the  rule 
of  Christ,  by  reason  of  another's  obstinacy  be  con- 
strained to  tell  it  to  the  Church  and  make  it  public 
...  the  offense  must  first  be  brought  to  the  Elders 
and  by  them  debated  and  delivered  to  the  Church. 
.  .  .  To  them  it  appertains  to  judge  whether  the 
things  be  of  weight  and  worth,  and  so  need  and  require 
the  presence  and  assistance  of  the  body  to  express  their 
judgment  against  them,  and  the  party  guilty  of  them 
or  no,  for  if  they  be  petty  businesses  and  altogether 
unfit  and  unworthy  to  trouble  the  congregation  withal, 
it  is  in  their  power  to  prevent  such  causeless  and  need- 
less disturbance,  and  therefore  to  suppress  any  further 
proceeding  therein.  .  .  .  But  when  all  things  are 
cleared,  the  native  and  naked  state  of  the  controversy 
laid  forth  and  presented  in  the  severals  of  it,  even  the 
meanest  in  the  congregation  will  generally  be  able  to 
see  cause  to  join  their  judgments  with  the  truth.  .  .  . 
In  the  examination  of  controversies  (because  the  eager- 
ness of  some  spirits  is  inordinate  in  the  pursuit  of  an 
offense  too  rigidly,  and  the  pride  of  all  men's  hearts 


THOMAS    HOOKER.  223 

generally  is  such,  that  though  they  can  do  shamefully, 
yet  they  are  loath  to  bear  the  shame  of  it  ;  and  there- 
fore out  of  their  waywardness  and  wilyness  of  heart  are 
ready  to  wimble  and  wind  out  devices,  that  they 
may  put  by  the  dint  of  a  discovering  and  convincing 
argument)  he  that  complains  must  know  two  rules. 

First  that  he  must  not  dare  to  complain  to  the  Elder 
of  a  Church  unless  he  can  plainly  and  peremptorily 
lay  in  his  accusation  of  another,  touching  such  speeches 
and  carriages  of  which  upon  thorough  search  he  is  well 
assured  .  .  .  because  I  would  prevent  such  weak  and 
windy  kind  of  expressions  as  too  often  we  meet  withal 
out  of  men's  too-sudden  pangs  and  heedless  mistakes. 
*'  I  take  it  so  "  ;  "I  conceive  it  so  M  ;  '*  It  was  so 
reported  "  ;  "I  met  with  it  on  that  manner  "  etc., 
when  upon  the  search  all  these  vanish  as  mistakes. 
The  Word  is,  we  must  rebuke  convictingly  Matt. 
i8:ij. 

Secondly,  as  his  accusation  must  be  plain  so  his 
proofs  must  be  direct  and  pregnant  .  .  .  there  must 
be  two  witnesses  to  establish  every  word,  except  the 
things  be  otherways  evidenced  sufficiently  as  by  con- 
fession of  the  party,  etc. 

On  the  Elders'  parts  two  rules,  if  attended,  make 
great  riddance  of  occasions  and  prevent  distempers. 
First,  let  the  accusation  be  presently  and  exactly  re- 
corded together  with  the  answer  thereunto  in  like 
manner  :  for  experience  teacheth  that  in  multiplicity  of 
debates  parties  are  apt  to  forget  or  else  not  willing  to 
remember,  and  sometimes  ready  to  mistake,  add, 
alter,  vary  in  expression,  as  they  see  there  may  any 
advantage  come  to  their  own  or  disadvantage  to  the 
contrary  cause  .  .  .  secondly,  let  the  Elders  confine  all 


224  THOMAS    HOOKER. 

parties  to  the  point  in  hand  and  not  suffer  them  by 
extravagancies  to  darken  the  truth,  disturb  the  pro- 
ceedings and  bring  confusion  to  the  whole  debate. 
They  are  also,  by  their  authority  put  into  their  hands, 
to  forbid  and  restrain  all  personal  and  passionate  ex- 
pressions, and  to  constrain  both  sides  to  speak  to  the 
cause,  and  only  to  the  cause  in  hand.    .    .    . 

The  execution  of  the  sentence  issues  in  four  things. 
First  the  cause  exactly  recorded  is  as  fully  and  nakedly 
to  be  presented  to  the  consideration  of  the  Congrega- 
tion. Secondly  the  Elders  are  .  .  .  to  express  their 
judgment  and  determination  thereof,  so  far  as  apper- 
tains to  themselves.  Thirdly,  unless  the  people  be  able 
to  convince  them  of  error  and  mistakes  in  their  sen- 
tence they  are  bound  to  join  their  judgment  with 
theirs  to  the  completing  of  the  sentence.  Fourthly, 
the  sentence  thus  completely  issued,  is  to  be  solemnly 
passed  and  pronounced  upon  the  delinquent  by  the 
ruling  Elder  whether  it  be  the  sentence  of  admonition 
or  excommunication. 


"HELL   TORMENTS."  225 


"HELL     TORMENTS,     HOW     IN     SOME 
SORT   TO   JUDGE    OF   THEM." 

[From  "The  Soul's  Preparation  for  Christ;  or 
a  Treatise  of  Contrition."      London,  1632.] 

First,  judge  the  lion  by  his  paw,  judge  the  torments 
of  hell  by  some  little  beginning  of  it  ;  and  the  dregs  of 
God's  vengeance,  by  some  little  sips  of  it  ;  and  judge 
how  unable  thou  art  to  bear  the  whole  by  thy  inability 
to  bear  a  little  of  it  in  this  life,  in  the  terror  of  con- 
science (as  the  wise  man  saith)  A  wounded  spirit  who 
can  bear  ?  When  God  lays  the  flashes  of  hell  fire 
upon  thy  soul,  thou  canst  not  endure  it  :  Whatsoever 
a  man  can  inflict  upon  a  poor  wretch,  may  be  borne  ; 
but  when  the  Almighty  comes  in  battle  array  against 
a  poor  soul,  how  can  he  undergo  it  ?  witness  the  Saints 
that  have  felt  it,  as  also  witness  the  wicked  themselves, 
that  have  had  some  beginnings  of  hell  in  their  con- 
sciences. When  the  Lord  hath  let  in  a  little  horror 
of  heart  into  the  soul  of  a  poor  sinful  creature,  how 
is  he  transported  with  an  insupportable  burthen  ? 
When  it  is  day,  he  wisheth  it  were  night,  and  when 
it  is  night,  he  wisheth  it  were  day.  All  the  friends 
in  the  world  cannot  comfort  him  :  nay,  many  have 
sought  to  hang  themselves,  to  do  any  thing  rather 
than  to  suffer  a  little  vengeance  of  the  Almighty  :  and 
one  man  is  roaring  and  yelling,  as  if  he  were  now  in 
hell  already,  and  admits  of  no  comfort  :  if  the  drops 
be  so  heavy,  what  will  the  whole  sea  of  God's  ven- 
geance be  ?  If  he  cannot  bear  the  one,  how  can  he 
bear  the  other  ? 


226  THOMAS   HOOKER. 

Secondly,  consider  thine  own  strength,  and  com- 
pare it  with  all  the  strength  of  the  creatures,  and  so 
if  all  the  creatures  be  not  able  to  bear  the  wrath  of 
the  Almighty,  (as  Job  saith)  //  my  strength  the 
strength  of  stones  ?  or  is  my  flesh  as  brass  that  must 
bear  thy  wrath !  As  if  he  had  said,  It  must  be  a 
stone,  or  brass  that  must  bear  thy  wrath.  Though 
thou  wert  as  strong  as  brass  or  stones,  thou  couldst 
not  bear  it  :  when  the  mountains  tremble  at  the  wrath 
of  the  Lord,  shall  a  poor  worm  or  bubble,  and  a 
shadow  endure  it  ? 

Conceive  thus  much,  if  all  the  diseases  in  the  world 
did  seize  on  one  man,  and  if  all  torments  that  all  the 
tyrants  in  the  world  could  devise,  were  cast  upon 
him  ;  and  if  all  the  creatures  in  heaven  and  earth  did 
conspire  the  destruction  of  this  man  ;  and  if  all  the 
devils  in  hell  did  labor  to  inflict  punishments  upon 
him,  you  would  think  this  man  to  be  in  a  miserable 
condition.  And  yet  all  this  is  but  a  beam  of  God's 
indignation.  If  the  beams  of  God's  wrath  be  so  hot, 
what  is  the  full  sun  of  his  wrath,  when  it  shall  seize 
upon  the  soul  of  a  sinful  creature  in  full  measure  ? 


GOD'S    MERCY    AND    HIS   JUSTICE. 

[From  the  Same.] 

Secondly,  if  this  will  not  work  upon  you,  if  you 
have  no  good  nature  in  you,  consider  that  God  is  just 
too ;  if  mercy  cannot  prevail  with  you,  you  shall  have 
justice  enough,  and  that  without  mercy  ;  you  must 
not  think  to  slight  God's  mercy,  and  carry  it  away 


"THE   TEXT   SAITH    SO."  227 

in  that  fashion.  But  God  is  a  just  God,  as  he  is  a 
gracious  God,  he  will  be  revenged  of  you.  If  any- 
stubborn  heart  shall  say,  God  is  merciful,  and  there- 
fore we  may  live  as  we  list,  and  be  as  careless  as  we 
please :  take  heed,  that  just  law  that  hath  been  con- 
temned, and  those  righteous  statutes  that  have  been 
broken,  and  God  that  hath  been  provoked  by  you 
will  be  revenged  of  you.  Did  ever  any  provoke  the 
Lord  and  prosper  ?  and  shall  you  begin  ?  Where  is 
Nimrod,  and  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  Pharaoh,  and 
Herod,  and  those  proud  persons  that  set  their  mouths 
against  God,  and  their  hearts  against  heaven  ;  what 
is  now  become  of  them  ?  they  are  now  in  the  lower- 
most pit  of  hell. 


«THE    TEXT   SAITH    SO." 

[From  the  Same.] 

How  many  notorious  vile  wretches  may  say, 
Good  Lord,  what  will  become  of  our  families,  and 
villages  ?  we  are  all  opposers  of  God  and  his  grace, 
shall  all  be  damned?  I  dare  not  say  what  God  will 
do  to  thee,  the  text  saith  so.  This  methinks  might 
lie  as  poison  and  rats-bane  upon  the  heart  of  a  sinful 
creature  :  the  Lord  in  mercy  look  upon  you,  and 
make  sin  as  lothsome  and  bitter  unto  you,  as  ever  it 
hath  been  sweet  and  pleasant.  You  see  how  the 
matter  will  go  with  you  :  you  that  thus  jibe  and  jest 
at  the  Saints,  and  sport  yourselves  in  sin  ;  the  time 
may  come  that  it  will  be  a  dry  feast,  as  it  was  with 
Dives  that  was  drunk,  and  fared  delicious ly  every  day  ; 


228  THOMAS    HOOKER. 

he  had  a  dry  feast  in  hell,  and  could  not  have  a  drop 
of  water  to  cool  his  tongue.  So  it  will  be  with  you  ; 
you  must  either  buckle  and  mourn  for  sin,  or  else 
burn  forever. 

GOD'S    ENDLESS    MERCY. 

[From  the  Same.] 

O  therefore  let  us  admire  and  bless  this  good  God, 
and  not  quarrel  with  his  Ministers,  nor  providence, 
and  say,  Other  men  have  comfort,  and  therefore  why 
am  I  so  troubled  and  disquieted  ?  How  now  ?  it  is 
endless  mercy  that  thou  livest,  therefore  down  with 
thy  proud  heart,  and  stifle  those  distempers  of  spirit, 
and  say,  The  Lord  hath  broken  and  wounded  me, 
but  blessed  be  his  name,  that  I  may  come  to  Church, 
and  that  he  hath  not  dealt  with  me  as  I  have  deserved, 
but  in  goodness  and  mercy  ;  I  hope  God  in  his  season 
will  do  good  to  my  soul. 

Secondly,  let  us  be  wise  to  nourish  this  same  blessed 
work  in  our  hearts  for  ever  ;  let  us  have  our  hearts 
more  and  more  strengthened,  because  thereby  our 
hearts  will  be  more  and  more  enabled  to  bear  and 
undergo  any  thing;  if  you  have  but  a  little  glimpse 
of  hope,  cover  it  :  and  labor  to  maintain  it,  and  if 
ever  God  let  in  any  glimpse  of  mercy  into  our  hearts, 
let  it  not  go  out  :  it  is  ever  good  to  take  that  way  that 
God  takes  ;  the  Lord  sustains  our  hearts  with  hope  : 
hope  is  the  sinews  of  the  soul,  therefore  strengthen  it. 

As  a  mariner  that  is  tossed  with  a  tempest  in  a  dark 
night,  when  he  sees  no  stars,  he  casts  anchor,  and 
that  cheers  him  ;   this  hope  is  the  anchor  of  the  soul, 


GOD'S    ENDLESS    MERCY.  229 

whereby  it  looks  out,  and  expects  mercy  from  God  : 
the  poor  soul  seeth  no  light  nor  comfort,  nothing  but 
the  wrath  of  an  angry  God  ;  and  he  saith,  God  is  a 
just  God,  and  a  jealous  God  ;  even  that  God  whose 
truth  I  have  opposed  is  displeased  with  me.  Then  the 
soul  is  tossed  and  troubled,  and  runs  upon  the  rocks 
of  despair  ;  how  shall  the  soul  be  supported  in  this 
condition  ?  You  will  find  this  true  one  day,  therefore 
look  to  it  before.  You  vile  drunkards  are  now  sailing 
in  a  fair  gale  of  pleasure,  and  carnal  delight,  but  when 
the  Lord's  wrath  shall  seize  upon  you,  when  he  shall 
let  in  the  flashes  of  hell  fire,  then  you  are  tossed, 
sometimes  up  to  heaven,  now  down  to  hell.  There- 
fore cast  anchor  now,  and  this  hope  will  uphold  you, 
for  this  hope  is  called  the  anchor  of  the  soul. 


THOMAS    SHEPARD. 

■ 

Thomas  Shepard,  a  distinguished  Puritan  divine 
and  "soul-melting  preacher,"  was  born  in  Colches- 
ter, England,  in  1605,  and  died  in  Cambridge, 
Massachusetts,  in  1649.  A  university  graduate,  like 
most  of  his  fellows,  he  was  ordained  priest  in  the 
English  Church,  and  silenced  in  1630  by  Laud.  He 
remained  in  England  till  1635,  emigrated  then  to 
America,  was  settled  in  Boston,  and  soon  after  suc- 
ceeded Hooker  at  Cambridge,  taking  an  active  part 
in  the  Antinomian  controversy  and  in  the  founding 
of  Harvard  University.  He  was  thrice  married. 
The  grief  which  he  expresses  in  the  extract  here 
given  was  for  his  second  spouse,  a  daughter  of  his 
predecessor  at  Cambridge.  It  is  a  uniquely  naive 
tribute  to  mutual  ministration.  Shepard  was  a  vo- 
luminous writer,  intoxicated  with  the  thought  of  the 
immanent  presence  of  God,  and  distilling  the  essence 
of  Calvinism  for  the  most  cultured  congregation  in 
New  England.  Grim  as  was  his  theology,  he  seems 
to  have  been  personally  most  affable,  though  he  re- 
veals himself  in  his  autobiography  as  somewhat  mor- 
bid. As  a  writer  he  shows  the  simpler  virtues  and 
some  of  the  artifices  of  style.  As  a  theologian  his 
repute  endured  longer  than  that  of  most  of  his  fellow 
Brahmins.  An  edition  of  his  writings,  for  use  and 
not  for  curiosity,  was  issued,  with  a  memoir  by  Rev. 
John  A.  Albro,  in  1853. 

230 


THOMAS   SHEPARD.  23 1 

FROM    THE   AUTOBIOGRAPHY.1 

DEDICATION. 

TO    MY    DEARE    SON, 

THOMAS    SHEPARD, 

With  whom  I  leave  these    records  of  God's  great 

kindness  to  him,  not  knowing  that  I  shall  live 

to  tell  them  myselfe  with  my  own  mouth, 

that  so  he  may  learne  to  know  and 

love  the   great  &  most  high 

God, 

the  god  of  his  father. 

[From  the  Introduction.] 

And  thus  after  about  eleven  weeks'  sail  from  Old 
England,  we  came  to  New  England  shore  :  where 
the  mother  fell  sick  of  a  consumption  and  you,  my 
child,  were  put  to  nurse  to  one  Goodwife  Hopkins, 
who  was  very  tender  of  thee  ;  and  after  we  had  been 
here  divers  weeks,  on  the  7  th  of  February  or  there- 
about, God  gave  thee  the  ordinance  of  baptism, 
whereby  God  is  become  thy  God,  and  is  beforehand 
with  thee,  that  whenever  you  shall  return  to  God, 

1  Edited  by  Nehemiah  Adams,  1832.  The  Dedication  is  not 
an  exact  reproduction. 


232  THOMAS    SHEPARD. 

he  will  undoubtedly  receive  you  ;  and  this  is  a  most 
high  and  happy  privilege  ;  and  therefore  bless  God 
for  it.  And  now  after  this  had  been  done,  thy  dear 
mother  died  in  the  Lord,  departing  out  of  this  world 
to  another,  who  did  lose  her  life  by  being  careful  to 
preserve  thine  ;  for  in  the  ship  thou  wert  so  feeble 
and  froward  both  in  the  day  and  night,  that  hereby 
she  lost  her  strength,  and  at  last  her  life.  She  hath 
made  also  many  a  prayer  and  shed  many  a  tear  in 
secret  for  thee  ;  and  this  hath  been  often  her  request 
that  if  the  Lord  did  not  intend  to  glorify  Himself  by 
thee,  that  He  would  cut  thee  oft"  by  death  rather  than 
to  live  to  dishonor  Him  by  sin  ;  and  therefore  know 
it  that  if  you  shall  turn  rebel  against  God  and  forsake 
God,  and  care  not  for  the  knowledge  of  Him  nor  to 
believe  in  His  Son  the  Lord  will  make  all  these 
mercies,  woes  ;  and  all  thy  mother's  prayers,  tears, 
and  death  to  be  a  swift  witness  against  thee  at  the 
great  day. 

Thus  the  Lord  taking  away  thy  dear  mother's 
life,  the  Lord  takes  care  for  thee  and  preserved  thee 
in  health  until  the  Spring,  May  1,  1636.  And  now 
the  hand  of  the  Lord  was  stretched  out  against  my 
child  ;  so  that  he  had  for  divers  weeks  a  sore  mouth, 
both  within  and  without  ;  cheeks  and  lips  full  of 
blisters,  so  as  that  he  could  eat  no  meat,  only  suck 
the  breast,  by  which  only  he  lived  a  long  time,  which 
I  did  think  would  have  been  its  death  again  ;  but  the 
Lord  being  sought  unto  recovered  him  again,  and 
then  the  humor  fell  into  his  eyes,  .  .  .  which  was 
such  a  misery  that  methought  now  I  had  rather  that 
the  Lord  would  take  away  my  child  by  death  than 
let  it  lead  a  blind  and  a  miserable  life  ;  but  the  Lord 


HERETICS   AND    PEQUOTS.  233 

saw  my  sorrows,  my  tears,  my  poor  prayers  which 
were  in  bitterness  for  him  ;  and  after  that  I  had  con- 
cluded I  must  have  a  blind  child  to  be  a  constant 
sorrow  to  me  till  my  death,  and  was  made  to  be 
contented  to  bear  the  indignation  of  the  Lord  because 
I  had  sinned,  resolving  now  to  fear,  nor  care  nor 
grieve  no  more  but  to  be  thankful,  nay  to  love  the 
Lord,  presently  I  say  upon  this  by  a  poor  weak 
means,  vizt.  the  oil  of  white  paper,  the  Lord  restored 
my  child  to  his  sight  suddenly  and  strangely,  I  may 
almost  say  miraculously  again,  which  was  no  small 
joy  to  me  and  no  little  encouragement  to  do  the 
Lord's  work  that  took  so  much  care  for  me  and 
mine.  Now  consider,  my  son,  and  remember  to 
lift  up  thy  eyes  to  heaven,  to  God  in  everlasting 
praises  of  him  and  dependence  upon  him  ;  and  take 
heed  thou  dost  not  make  thy  eyes  windows  of  lust, 
but  give  thy  eyes,  nay  thy  heart  and  whole  soul  and 
body  to  him  that  hath  been  so  careful  of  thee  when 
thou  couldst  not  care  for  thyself. 


HERETICS    AND    PEQUOTS. 

No  sooner  were  we  thus  set  down  and  entered 
into  Church  fellowship ;  but  the  Lord  exercised  us 
and  the  whole  country  with  the  opinions  of  Famil- 
ists  begun  by  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  raised  up  to  a  great 
height  by  Mr.  Vane,  too  suddenly  chosen  Governor, 
and  maintained  too  obscurely  by  Mr.  Cotton,  and 
propagated  too  boldly  by  the  members  of  Boston, 
and  some  in  other  churches,  by  means  of  which 
divisions  by  those  opinions,  the  ancient  received  truth 


234  THOMAS   SHEPARD. 

came  to  be  darkened,  God's  name  to  be  blasphemed, 
the  church's  glory  diminished,  many  godly  grieved, 
many  wretches  hardened,  deceiving  and  being  de- 
ceived, growing  worse  and  worse  ;  .  .  .  At  this 
time  I  cannot  omit  the  goodness  of  God  as  to  myself 
so  to  all  the  country  in  delivering  us  from  the  Pekoat 
furies.  .  .  .  those  upon  the  river  first  gathered 
about  seventy  men  and  sent  them  into  the  Pekoat 
country  to  make  that  the  seat  of  war  and  to  revenge 
the  death  of  those  innocents  whom  they  barbarously 
and  most  unnaturally  slew.  .  .  .  they  intended  to 
assault  Sasukus  Fort,  but  falling  short  of  it  the  second 
night  the  providence  of  God  guided  them  to  another 
nearer,  full  of  stout  men  and  there  brought  soldiers, 
being,  as  it  were,  cooped  up  there,  to  the  number 
of  three  or  four  hundred  in  all  for  the  Divine  slaughter 
by  the  hand  of  the  English.  .  .  .  Until  the  Lord 
had  utterly  consumed  the  whole  company  except  four 
or  five  girls  they  took  prisoners  and  dealt  with  them 
at  Seabrooke  as  they  dealt  with  ours  at  Wethersfield, 
and  it  is  verily  thought  scarce  one  man  escaped.  .  .  . 


THE    FOUNDING    OF  HARVARD   COL- 
LEGE. 

Thus  the  Lord  having  delivered  the  country  from 
war  with  Indians  and  Familists  (who  arose  and  fell 
together),  he  was  pleased  to  direct  the  hearts  of  the 
magistrates  ...  to  think  of  erecting  a  school  or 
college  and  that  speedily  to  be  a  nursery  of  knowledge 
in  these  deserts  and  supply  for  posterity,  and  because 
this  town  (then  called  Newtown)  was  hereto  [by] 


FOUNDING   OF   HARVARD    COLLEGE.    235 

God's  great  care  and  goodness  kept  spotless  from  the 
contagion  of  the  opinions,  therefore  at  the  desire  of 
some  of  our  town  the  deputies  of  the  Court  having 
got  Mr.  Eaton  to  attend  the  school,  the  Court  for  that 
and  sundry  other  reasons  determined  to  erect  the  col- 
lege here,  which  was  no  sooner  done  but  the  chief 
of  the  magistrates  and  elders  sent  to  England  to  desire 
help  to  forward  this  work,  but  they  all  neglecting  us 
(in  a  manner)  the  Lord  put  it  into  the  heart  of  one 
Mr.  Harvard,  who  died  worth  ^1600,  to  give  half 
of  his  estate  to  the  erecting  of  the  school.  This 
man  was  a  scholar  and  pious  in  his  life  and  enlarged 
toward  the  country  and  the  good  of  it  in  life  and 
death,  but  no  sooner  was  this  given  but  Mr.  Eaton 
(professing  valiantly  yet  falsely  and  most  deceitfully 
the  fear  of  God)  did  lavish  out  a  great  part  of  it, 
and  being  for  his  cruelty  to  his  scholars,  especially  to 
one  Briscoe,  as  also  for  some  other  wantonness  in  life 
not  so  notoriously  known,  driven  the  country  ;  the 
Lord  about  a  year  after  graciously  made  up  the  breach 
by  one  Mr.  Dunstar,  a  man  pious,  painful,  and  fit  to 
teach  and  very  fit  to  lay  the  foundations  of  the  domes- 
tical affairs  of  the  college  ;  whom  God  hath  much 
honored  and  blest.  .  .  .  But  thus  the  Lord  hath 
been  very  good  unto  me  in  planting  the  place  I  lived 
in  with  such  a  mercy  to  myself,  such  a  blessing  to 
my  children  and  the  country,  such  an  opportunity  of 
doing  good  to  many  by  doing  good  to  students,  as 
the  school  is. 


236  THOMAS    SHEPARD. 


A  DOMESTIC  OBITUARY,  OCTOBER,  1637. 

The  year  after  those  wars  in  the  country  God 
having  taken  away  my  first  wife,  the  Lord  gave  me 
a  second,  the  eldest  daughter  of  Mr.  Hooker,  a 
blessed  store  ;  and  the  Lord  hath  made  her  a  great 
blessing  to  me  to  carry  on  matters  in  the  family  with 
much  care  and  wisdom  and  to  seek  the  Lord  God 
of  her  father.    .    .    . 

But  the  Lord  hath  not  been  wont  to  let  me  live 
long  without  some  affliction  or  other  ;  and  yet  ever 
mixed  with  some  mercy.  And  therefore,  April  the 
2d,  1646,  as  he  gave  me  another  son,  John,  so  he 
took  away  my  most  dear,  precious,  meek,  and  loving 
wife  ;  having  left  behind  her  two  hopeful  branches, 
my  dear  children,  Samuel  and  John.  This  affliction 
was  very  heavy  to  me  ;  for  in  it  the  Lord  seemed  to 
withdraw  his  tender  care  for  me  and  mine,  which  he 
graciously  manifested  by  my  dear  wife  ;  also  refused  to 
hear  prayer,  when  I  did  think  he  would  have  heark- 
ened and  let  me  see  his  beauty  in  the  land  of  the  living, 
in  restoring  of  her  to  health  again  ;  also,  in  taking  her 
away  in  the  prime  time  of  her  life,  when  she  might 
have  lived  to  have  glorified  the  Lord  long  ;  also,  in 
threatening  me  to  proceed  in  rooting  out  my  family, 
and  that  he  would  not  stop,  having  begun  here,  as  in 
Eli,  for  not  being  zealous  enough  against  the  sins  of 
his  son,  and  I  saw  that  if  I  had  profited  by  former 
afflictions  of  this  nature,  I  should  not  have  had  this 
scourge  ;  but  I  am  the  Lord's,  and  he  may  do  with 
me  what  he  will  ;  he  did  teach  me  to  prize  a  little 
grace,  gained  by  a  cross,  as  a  sufficient  recompense 


A   DOMESTIC   OBITUARY.  237 

for  all  outward  losses  ;  but  this  loss  was  very  great  ; 
she  was  a  woman  of  incomparable  meekness  of  spirit, 
toward  myself  especially,  and  very  loving  ;  of  great 
prudence  to  take  care  for  and  order  my  family  affairs, 
being  neither  too  lavish  nor  sordid  in  any  thing,  so 
that  I  knew  not  what  was  under  her  hands:  She 
had  an  excellency  to  reprove  for  sin,  and  discern  the 
evils  of  men.  She  loved  God's  people  dearly,  and 
[was]  studious  to  profit  by  their  fellowship,  and  there- 
fore loved  their  company.  She  loved  God's  word 
exceedingly,  and  hence  was  glad  she  could  read  my 
notes,  which  she  had  to  muse  on  every  week.  She 
had  a  spirit  of  prayer  beyond  ordinary  of  her  time  and 
experience.  She  was  fit  to  die  long  before  she  did 
die,  even  after  the  death  of  her  first-born,  which  was 
a  great  affliction  to  her.  But  her  work  not  being 
done  then,  she  lived  almost  nine  years  with  me,  and 
was  the  comfort  of  my  life  to  me  ;  and  the  last  sac- 
rament before  her  lying-in  seemed  to  be  full  of  Christ, 
and  thereby  fitted  for  heaven.  She  did  oft  say  she 
should  not  outlive  this  child  ;  and  when  her  fever 
first  began  (by  taking  some  cold)  she  told  me  so,  that 
we  should  love  exceedingly  together,  because  we 
should  not  live  long  together.  Her  fever  took  away 
her  sleep  ;  want  of  sleep  wrought  much  distemper  in 
her  head,  and  filled  it  with  fantasies  and  distractions, 
but  without  raging.  The  night  before  she  died,  she 
had  about  six  hours'  unquiet  sleep.  But  that  so 
cooled  and  settled  her  head,  that  when  she  knew 
none  else,  so  as  to  speak  to  them,  yet  she  knew  Jesus 
Christ,  and  could  speak  to  him  ;  and  therefore,  as 
soon  as  she  awakened  out  of  sleep,  she  brake  out  into 
a  most  heavenly,  heart-breaking  prayer,  after  Christ, 


238  THOMAS   SHEPARD. 

her  dear  Redeemer,  for  the  spirit  of  life,  and  so  con- 
tinued praying  until  the  last  hour  of  her  death, 
"Lord,  though  I  [am]  unworthy,  Lord,  one  word, 
one  word,"  etc.  ;  and  so  gave  up  the  ghost  :  thus 
God  hath  visited  and  scourged  me  for  my  sins,  and 
sought  to  wean  me  from  this  world.  But  I  have 
ever  found  it  a  difficult  thing  to  profit  even  but  a 
little  by  the  sorest  and  sharpest  afflictions. 


SELECTIONS    FROM   THE    "MEDI- 
TATIONS  AND   SPIRITUAL 
EXPERIENCES." 

January  9  [1640].  As  I  was  walking  in  my 
study,  musing  on  my  sermon  in  Q,  10.  That 
God's  mercy  was  himself,  as  his  justice  also  was  ; 
the  one  to  the  men  that  come  to  Christ ;  and  to 
those  that  are  out  of  Christ,  the  other.  Hence  I 
considered,  when  I  come  to  Christ  there  is  no  wrath 
or  justice  to  devour,  but  sweet  love.  Wrath  there  is 
for  refusing  him,  not  else.  It  was  then  objected, 
But  it  is  to  the  Elect  only.  The  Lord  let  me  then 
see  I  had  nothing  to  do  with  that  but  to  look  on  his 
truth,  which  is  to  them  that  come  to  him,  that  he 
would  stand  as  a  rock  between  the  scorching  sun  and 
their  souls.  Hence  my  heart  was  sweetly  ravished, 
and  began  to  long  to  die,  and  think  of  being  with 
him.  And  my  heart  said,  Remember  to  comfort 
yourself  thus,  when  you  come  to  lie  on  your  sick  bed, 
to  lie  under  this  rock,  as  in  a  hot  dav.      If  one  saw  a 


"MEDITATIONS  AND  EXPERIENCES."     239 

rock  in  a  hot  day,  should  he  say,  that  rock  will  cool 
me  if  I  be  elected  to  it,  and  God  has  purposed  it  ; 
so  keep  off  in  fears  ?  No,  God  has  purposed  thus 
to  be  a  rock  to  all  that  come  to  him,  and  are  drawn 
by  his  love.    .   .    . 

January  19.  I  saw  my  loose  walking  without 
God  ;  and  so  was  put  to  a  stand,  what  to  say  of 
myself.  I  saw  that  hypocrites  are  far  from  humbling, 
because  far  from  conviction  :  they  hope  something 
there  is  in  them.  But  I  brought  my  heart  to  con- 
sider thus,  If  my  state  is  good,  then  there  is  cause  of 
deeper  mourning  for  abusing  the  Lord,  so  good  ;  or 
my  state  is  not  good,  and  then  there  is  cause  of 
breaking  because  I  am  so  wretched  still ;  and  so  I 
went  to  prayer.    .    .    . 

March  17.  I  began  to  question,  whether  Chris- 
tians generally  were  so  good  as  they  seemed  to  be  ? 
I  thought,  [1]  They  were  not  so  good  as  the 
Lord  would  have  them  to  be,  from  two  arguments. 

( 1 )  From  the  want  of  assurance  generally  among 
men.  Which  argues  God  is  angry,  when  he  doth 
not  appear  according  as  he  doth  use  to  do  to  them 
who  love  his  name.  (2)  Because  men  are  better 
generally  under  the  rod,  than  under  mercy.  We  see 
what  an  admirable  Spirit  there  is  under  sore  afflictions, 
which  men  cannot  attain  to,  or  keep,  but  then.  Now 
[zdly]  I  thought  that  men  were  not  so  good  as  they 
appeared  to  be,  ( 1 )  Because  very  few  are  recovered 
to  that  frame  before  death,  which  God  will  bring 
them  to,  that  get  assurance.  Few  recover  holiness 
by  mercy,  or  feel  the  eternal  good  of  sore  afflictions. 

(2)  Because  many  eminent  professors  fall*  off  and  fall 
away.      If  they  continue  long,  by  some  trial  or  other 


24O  THOMAS   SHEPARD. 

they  are  made  transparent.  (3)  Because,  though 
others  of  less  holiness  may  be  upright ;  yet  for  us  that 
have  more  means,  not  to  be  more  holy  and  humble, 
nay  not  so  humble  and  holy  as  those  that  want  means, 
cannot  stand  with  uprightness,  generally.  My  coun- 
sel therefore  is,  Let  all  take  heed  of  being  led  by 
example  of  men,  and  thinking,  We  are  good  because 
we  are  like  them  that  be  so.    .    .    . 

On  the  evening  of  this  day  [July  9]  before  the 
sacrament,  I  saw  it  my  duty  to  sequester  myself  from 
all  other  things  for  the  Lord  the  next  day.  And 
(1)  I  saw,  I  was  to  pitch  on  the  right  end,  (2)  on 
the  means,  all  things  to  lead  me  to  that  end.  I  saw 
mine  own  ends  were,  to  procure  honor,  pleasure, 
gain  to  myself  and  not  the  Lord  :  and  I  saw  how 
impossible  it  was  for  me  to  attain  those  ends  I  should 
attain,  viz.,  To  seek  the  Lord  for  himself,  to  lay  up 
all  my  honor,  pleasure,  etc.,  in  him.  Or  if  I  did,  it 
was  for  myself,  because  good  unto  me.  So  the  Lord 
helped  me  thus.      To  see, 

( 1  )  If  honor,  pleasure  was  good  ;  Oh,  how  good 
was  he  who  gave  them,  and  could  have  cut  me  short 
of  them  ?  And  so  my  heart  was  raised  up  a  little 
unto  God. 

(2)  I  saw  my  blessedness  did  not  chiefly  lie  in 
receiving  good  and  comfort  from  God,  and  in  God  ; 
but  in  holding  forth  the  glory  of  God  and  his  virtues. 
For  'tis,  I  saw,  an  amazing,  glorious  object,  to  see 
God  in  a  creature  ;  God  speak,  God  act  ;  the  Deity 
not  being  the  creature  and  turned  into  it,  but  filling 
of  it,  shining  through  it  ;  to  be  covered  with  God, 
as  with  a  cloud  ;  or  as  a  glass  lantern,  to  have  his 
beams  penetrate  through  it.       Nothing  is  good    but 


THE    FATE   OF   THE    EVIL   SOUL.      24 1 

God  ;  and  I  am  no  further  good,  than  as  I  hold  forth 
God.  The  Devil  overcame  Eve  to  damn  herself  by 
telling  her  she  should  be  like  God.  O  that's  a  glo- 
rious thing  !  And  should  not  I  be  holy,  and  so  be 
like  him  indeed  ? 

Hereupon  I  found  my  heart  more  sweetly  drawn  to 
close  with  God,  thus  as  my  end,  and  to  place  my  hap- 
piness in  it.  And  also  I  saw,  it  was  my  misery  to  hold 
forth  sin  and  Satan  and  self  in  my  course.  And  I  saw 
one  of  those  two  things  I  must  do.  Now  because  my 
soul  wanted  pleasure,  I  purposed  thus  to  hold  forth 
God,  and  did  hope  it  should  be  my  pleasure  so  to  do, 
as  it  would  be  my  pain  to  do  otherwise.    .    .    . 

November  14.  On  the  Sabbath  day,  at  night, 
after  sermon,  I  saw  I  had  preached  to  others,  and 
had  not  fed  myself.  And  I  seeing  it  did  arise  from 
weakness  of  faith  and  light,  the  Lord  suggested  the 
one  hundred  and  third  Psalm  to  me,  "  He  heals  all 
thine  infirmities,"  which  quieted  my  soul  somewhat. 

December  18.  I  saw  it  my  duty  so  to  lament  my 
sin,  as  that  my  sorrow  should  swallow  up  all  the  joy  I 
took  in  anything  in  this  world.  And  here  I  remem- 
bered what  it  was  to  afflict  one's  soul,  viz.  to  make 
sin  as  bitter  as  affliction,  and  to  make  it  my  affliction. 


THE    FATE   OF   THE    EVIL   SOUL. 

[From   The  Sincere   Convert,  1641,  Chap.  III.] 

What  will  become  of  thine  immortal  soul  when 
thou  art  dead  ?  Thou  sayest  :  "  I  know  not,  I  hope 
well."      I  tell  thee  therefore  that  which  may  send 


242  THOMAS    SHEPARD. 

thee  mourning  to  thy  house,  and  quaking  to  thy 
grave  ;  if  thou  diest  in  this  estate,  thou  shalt  not  die 
like  a  dog,  nor  yet  like  a  toad  ;  but  after  death  comes 
judgment ;  then  farewell  friends  when  dying  ;  and 
farewell  God  forever  when  thou  art  dead.    .    .    . 

Then  shall  God  surrender  up  thy  forsaken  soul 
into  the  hands  of  devils,  who  being  thy  jailors,  must 
keep  thee  till  the  great  day  of  account  ;  so  that  as 
thy  friends  are  scrambling  for  thy  goods,  and  worms 
for  thy  body,  so  devils  shall  scramble  for  thy  soul. 
For  as  soon  as  ever  a  wicked  man  is  dead,  he  is 
either  in  Heaven  or  in  Hell.  Not  in  Heaven,  for  no 
unclean  thing  comes  there  ;  if  in  Hell  then  amongst 
devils  ;  there  shall  be  thine  eternal  lodging,  and 
hence  thy  forlorn  soul  shall  lie  mourning  for  the  time 
past,  now,  't  is  too  late  to  recall  again  ;  groaning 
under  the  intolerable  torments  of  the  wrath  of  God 
present,  and  amazed  at  the  eternity  of  misery  and 
sorrow  that  is  to  come,  waiting  for  that  fearful  hour 
when  the  last  trump  shall  blow,  and  then  body  and 
soul  meet  to  bear  that  wrath,  that  fire  that  shall  never 
go  out.  Oh,  therefore  suspect  and  fear  the  worst  of 
thyself  now  !   .    .    . 

...  In  regard  of  the  fearful  sentence  that  then 
shall  be  passed  upon  thee  :  "  Depart,  thou  cursed 
creature,  into  everlasting  fire,  prepared  for  the  Devil 
and  his  Angels  !  Thou  shalt  then  cry  out  :  "  O 
mercy  Lord!  O  a  little  mercy!"  "No,"  will 
the  Lord  Jesus  say,  "  I  did  indeed  once  offer  it  you, 
but  you  refused  ;  therefore  Depart  ! ' ' 

Then  thou  shalt  plead  again  :  "  Lord,  if  I  must 
depart,  yet  bless  me  before  I  go  !  " 

"No,  no,  Depart,  thou  cursed  !" 


THE   FATE   OF   THE    EVIL   SOUL.      243 

.  ««  O,  but  Lord,  if  I  must  depart  cursed  let  me  go 
to  some  good  place  ! ' * 

« <  No !     Depart,  thou  cursed,  into  hell  fire  !  " 

"  O  Lord,  that's  a  torment  I  cannot  bear  ;  but  if 
it  must  be  so,  Lord,  let  me  come  out  again  quickly  !  " 

"No,  Depart,  thou  cursed,  into  everlasting  fire  !  * 

"  O  Lord,  if  this  be  thy  pleasure  that  here  I  must 
abide  let  me  have  good  company  with  me!" 

"No!  Depart,  thou  cursed,  into  everlasting  fire, 
prepared  for  the  Devil  and  his  Angels  ! ' ' 

This  shall  be  thy  sentence,  the  hearing  of  which 
may  make  the  rocks  to  rent.    .   .    . 

.  .  .  Thus  (I  say)  thou  shalt  lie  blaspheming, 
with  God's  wrath  like  a  pile  of  fire  on  thy  soul 
burning,  and  floods,  nay  seas,  nay  more,  seas  of  tears 
(for  thou  shalt  forever  lie  weeping)  shall  never  quench 
it.  And  here,  which  way  soever  thou  lookest,  thou 
shalt  see  matter  of  everlasting  grief.  Look  up  to 
heaven,  and  there  thou  shalt  see  (Oh  !)  that  God  is 
forever  gone.  Look  about  thee,  thou  shalt  see  devils 
quaking,  cursing  God  ;  and  thousands,  nay,  millions 
of  sinful  damned  creatures  crying  and  roaring  out 
with  doleful  shriekings  :  "  O  the  day  that  ever  I  was 
born  ! ' '  Look  within  thee,  there  is  a  guilty  con- 
science gnawing.  Look  to  time  past  ;  O  those 
golden  days  of  grace  and  sweet  seasons  of  mercy  are 
quite  lost  and  gone  !  Look  to  time  to  come  ;  there 
thou  shalt  behold  evils,  troops  and  swarms  of  sor- 
rows, and  woes  and  raging  waves  and  billows  of 
wrath  coming  roaring  upon  thee.  Look  to  time 
present  ;  oh,  not  an  hour  or  moment  of  ease  or 
refreshing,  but  all  curses  meet  together,  and  feeding 
upon  one  poor,  lost,  immortal  Soul,  that  never  can 


244  THOMAS    SHEPARD. 

be  recovered  again  !  No  God,  no  Christ,  no  Spirit 
to  comfort  thee,  no  minister  to  preach  unto  thee  ;  no 
friend  to  wipe  away  thy  continual  tears,  no  sun  to 
shine  upon  thee,  not  a  bit  of  bread,  not  one  drop 
of  water  to  cool  thy  tongue  ! 


NINE    EASY  WAYS   TO    HELL. 

[From  the  Same,   Chap.  V.] 

The  gate  is  strait,  and  therefore  a  man  must  sweat 
and  strive  to  enter  ;  both  the  entrance  is  difficult  and 
the  progress  of  salvation  too.  Jesus  Christ  is  not  got 
with  a  wet  finger.  It  is  not  wishing  and  desiring  to 
be  saved  will  bring  men  to  Heaven  ;  Hell's  mouth  is 
full  of  good  wishes.  It  is  not  shedding  a  tear  at  a 
sermon,  or  blubbering  now  and  then  in  a  corner,  and 
saying  over  thy  prayers,  and  crying  God's  mercy  for 
thy  sins,  will  save  thee.  It  is  not  a  «<  Lord,  have 
mercy  upon  us,"  will  do  thee  good.  It  is  not  com- 
ing constantly  to  church  ;  these  are  easy  matters. 
But  it  is  a  tough  work,  a  wonderful  hard  matter  to 
be  saved.  Hence  the  way  to  heaven  is  compared  to 
a  race,  where  a  man  must  put  forth  all  his  strength 
and  stretch  every  limb  and  all  to  get  forward.  Hence 
a  Christian's  life  is  compared  to  wrestling,  Eph.  vi.  12. 
All  the  policy  and  power  of  Hell  buckle  together 
against  a  Christian,  therefore  he  must  look  to  himself, 
or  else  he  falls.  Hence  it  is  compared  to  fighting, 
2  Tim.  iv.  7,  as  man  must  fight  against  the  Devil, 
the  world,  himself,  who  shoot  poisoned  bullets  in  the 
soul,  where  a  man  must  kill  or  be  killed.      God  hath 


NINE   EASY  WAYS   TO    HELL.        245 

not  lined  the  way  to  heaven  with  velvet,  nor  strewed 
it  with  rushes.  He  will  never  feed  a  slothful  humor 
in  man,  who  will  be  saved  if  Christ  and  Heaven  will 
drop  into  their  mouths,  and  if  any  would  bear  their 
charges  thither.  If  Christ  might  be  bought  for  a  few 
cold  wishes  and  lazy  desires,  he  would  be  of  small 
reckoning  among  men,  who  would  say  :  "  Lightly 
come,  lightly  go."  Indeed  Christ's  yoke  is  easy  in 
itself,  and  when  a  man  is  got  into  Christ,  nothing  is 
so  sweet  ;  but  for  a  carnal,  dull  heart,  it  is  hard  to 
draw  in  it.    .    .    . 

Now  there  are  nine  easy  Ways  to  Heaven  (as 
men  think)  all  of  which  lead  to  Hell. 

1 .  The  common  broad  Way,  wherein  a  whole 
parish  may  all  go  abreadth  in  it  ;  tell  these  people 
they  shall  be  damned  ;  their  answer  is,  "  Then  woe 
to  many  more  besides  me." 

2.  The  Way  of  Civil  Education  ;  whereby  many 
wild  natures  are  by  little  and  little  tamed,  and  like 
wolves  are  chained  up  easily  while  they  are  young. 

3.  Balaam's  Way  of  good  Wishes ;  whereby  many 
people  will  confess  their  ignorance,  forgetfulness,  and 
that  they  can  not  make  such  shows  as  others  do, 
but  they  thank  God  their  hearts  are  as  good,  and 
God  for  his  part  accepts  (say  they)  the  will  for  the 
deed.  And,  "  My  son,  give  me  thine  heart;" 
the  heart  is  all  in  all,  and  so  long  they  hope  to  do 
well  enough.  Poor  deluded  creatures,  thus  to  think 
to  break  through  armies  of  sins,  devils,  temptations, 
and  to  break  open  the  very  gates  of  heaven  with  a 
few  good  wishes  !  They  think  to  come  to  their 
journey's  end  without  legs,  because  their  hearts  are 
good  to  God. 


246  THOMAS    SHEPARD. 

4.  The  Way  of  Formality  ;  whereby  men  rest 
in  the  psrformince  of  most  or  of  all  external  duties 
without  inward  life.  Every  man  must  have  some 
religion,  some  fig-leaves  to  hide  their  nakedness. 
Now  this  religion  must  be  either  true  religion,  or  the 
false  one  ;  if  the  true  he  must  either  take  up  the 
power  of  it,  but  that  he  will  not,  because  it  is  bur- 
densome ;  or  the  form  of  it,  ani  this  baing  easy, 
men  embrace  it  as  their  God,  and  will  rather  lose 
their  lives  than  their  religion  thus  taken  up.    .    .    . 

5.  The  Way  of  Presumption  ;  whereby  men 
having  seen  their  sins,  catch  hold  easily  upon  God's 
mercy,  and  snatch  comforts  before  they  are  reached 
out  unto  them.  There  is  no  word  of  comfort  in 
the  Book  of  God  intended  for  such  as  regard  iniquity 
in  their  hearts,  though  they  do  not  act  it  in  their 
lives.  Their  only  comfort  is  that  the  sentence  of 
damnation  is  not  yet  executed  upon  them. 

6.  The  Way  of  Sloth  ;  whereby  men  lie  still  and 
say  "  God  must  do  all."  If  the  Lord  would  set  up 
a  pulpit  at  the  ale-house  door,  it  may  be  they  would 
hear  oftener.  If  God  will  always  thunder,  they  will 
always  pray  ;  if  he  strike  them  now  and  then  with 
sickness,  God  shall  be  paid  with  good  words  and 
promises  enough,  that  they  will  be  better  if  they  live  ; 
but  as  long  as  peace  lasts  they  will  run  to  Hell  as 
fast  as  they  can  ;  and  if  God  will  not  catch  them 
they  care  not,  they  will  not  return.    .    .    . 

7.  The  Way  of  Carelessness,  when  men  feeling 
many  difficulties,  pass  through  some  of  them,  but  not 
all,  and  what  they  can  not  get  now,  they  feed  them- 
selves with  a  false  hope  they  shall  hereafter.  They 
are  content   to   be   called   precisians   and    fools,   and 


JUDGMENT   AND    MERCY.  247 

crazy  brains,  but  they  want  brokenness  of  heart,  and 
they  will  pray  (it  may  be)  for  it,  and  pass  by  that 
difficulty  ;  but  to  keep  the  wound  always  open,  this 
they  will  not  do,  to  be  always  sighing  for  help,  and 
never  to  give  themselves  rest  till  their  hearts  are 
humbled  ;  that  they  will  not.  These  have  a  name 
to  live,  yet  are  dead. 

8.  The  Way  of  Moderation  or  honest  Discretion, 
which  indeed  is  nothing  but  luke-warmness  of  the 
soul,  and  that  is  when  a  man  contrives  and  cuts  out 
such  a  way  to  Heaven,  as  he  may  be  hated  of  none, 
but  please  all,  and  so  do  any  thing  for  a  quiet  life 
and  so  sleep  in  a  whole  skin.    .    .    . 

9.  And  lastly,  the  Way  of  Self-Love  ;  whereby 
a  man  fearing  terribly  he  shall  be  damned,  useth  dili- 
gently all  means  whereby  he  shall  be  saved.  Here 
is  the  strongest  difficulty  of  all,  to  row  against  the 
stream,  and  to  hate  a  man's  self,  and  then  to  follow 
Christ  fully.    .    .    . 


JUDGMENT   AND    MERCY. 

[From  "The  Parable  of  the  Ten  Virgins 
Opened  and  Applied,"  Part  II.  xix.  Section 
xiii.      1659.] 

Motive  1.  Consider  the  lamentable  end  of  one 
who  dies  unready  ;  some  (not  all)  the  Lord  leaves 
for  terrors  to  the  secure  world,  who  are  as  good  as 
men  risen  from  the  dead,  to  tell  men  of  the  vanity 
of  their  sinful  courses,  who  looking  upon  time  past, 
they  see  that  it  is  irrevocably  lost  and  passed,  away 


248  THOMAS    SHEPARD. 

as  a  dream,  and  lost  as  a  shadow  ;  look  upon  time 
present,  they  felt  their  souls  left  naked,  their  accounts 
not  made,  an  end  come  to  all  their  hopes  and  com- 
forts here,  their  body  sick,  their  conscience  trembling, 
if  not  tearing  their  hearts  hard,  God  departed,  the 
grave  opened  for  their  filthy  carcasses,  and  devils 
waiting  for  their  secure  souls.  And  now,  say  such, 
what  profit  have  I  for  all  my  vanity  under  the  sun  ? 
Look  to  time  to  come ;  there  they  see  the  throne  set, 
the  Lord  Jesus  on  it,  their  souls  standing  naked  before 
him,  whose  grace  was  great  toward  them  whiles  they 
lived,  but  whose  face  is  now  a  consuming  fire  ;  and 
they  behold  eternity,  even  that  eternal  black  gulf 
between  them  and  the  Lord  ;  and  here  they  lie  wish- 
ing they  had  taken  their  time,  professing  now  their 
time  is  lost,  beseeching  others  to  take  warning  by 
them,  desiring  the  prayers  of  others,  yet  thinking, 
though  Noah  and  Samuel  should  stand  before  the 
Lord  for  them,  there  is  no  hope.  Come  and  see 
them.  Do  not  cast  away  mercy,  cast  not  away  that 
blood,  which  is  worthy  to  be  gathered  up  by  blessed 
angels  in  vessels  of  gold  ;  lament  and  return,  and  the 
Lord  will  to  you  :    .    .    . 

Motive  2.  Consider  thou  hast  but  a  short  time 
to  prepare  in,  and  the  time  will  be  then,  when  thou 
dost  least  think  of  it,  Luke  xii,  46.  The  Lord's 
arrows  are  now  flying  abroad  ;  if  you  did  think  you 
should  be  next  smitten  down  dead,  you  would  pre- 
pare ;  but  you  think  the  Lord  delays  his  coming  ; 
O,  remember  that  time  thou  dost  least  think  of, 
Christ  will  come.    .    .    . 


"ALL   SHALL   BE    IN  VAIN."  2  LQ 

"ALL   SHALL   BE    IN    VAIN." 

[From  the  Same,   Part  II.   xix.   Section  xvi.] 

—  And  hence  exceeding  wrath  is  shown,  in  deny- 
ing for  a  time  to  hear  prayer  many  times  ;  now  look 
upon  the  condition  of  poor  sinners  dying  without 
Christ  ;  they  shall  then  cry,  and  cry  earnestly,  and 
yet  not  prevail  ;  if  the  wrath  of  God  did  break  out 
at  this  time,  and  lie  heavy,  and  the  Lord  say,  Now 
cry,  and  I  will  deliver ;  it  was  no  such  sorrow, 
though  bitter  enough,  to  lie  under  wrath  one  moment ; 
but  to  cry,  and  cry  vehemently,  Lord,  Lord,  and 
never  be  heard,  O,  who  can  bear  this  ?  then  tor- 
ments are  intolerable  ;  hath  the  Lord  no  pity  ?  then 
cries  are  many,  and  hearts  are  faint  ;  hath  Christ  no 
bowels  ?  hath  this  Lamb  no  more  meekness,  gentle- 
ness ?  Yes,  that  there  is  ;  but  such  is  his  terror  now, 
they  are  shut  up  from  you  ;  and  so  shall  ever  be, 
though  you  shall  cry,  and  weep  as  many  tears,  and 
more  too  than  the  sea  hath  drops  ;  and  when  you 
cannot  come  before  his  face,  the  gate  being  shut,  you 
shall  cry,  that  the  rocks  and  mountains  may  fall  upon 
you  to  hide  you  from  this  wrath  of  the  Lamb  ;  and 
you  shall  then  cry,  Behold,  and  see,  if  ever  sorrow 
were  like  mine  !   but  all  shall  be  in  vain  ! 


NATHANIEL    WARD. 

Nathaniel  Ward,  a  Colonial  clergyman  and 
pamphleteer,  who  is  best  known  as  the  "  Simple 
Cobbler  of  Aga warn,"  was  probably  born  in  Haver- 
hill, England,  about  1578,  and  died  at  Shenfield, 
England,  in  1652.  Son  of  John  Ward,  a  noted  Puri- 
tan minister,  he  was  graduated  at  Cambridge,  in 
1603,  and  educated  for  the  law,  but  after  practice 
in  England,  and  travel  on  the  Continent,  he  studied 
theology,  and  in  161 8  became  chaplain  to  a  com- 
pany of  English  merchants  at  Elbing,  Prussia.  Re- 
turning to  England,  he  served  in  London,  and  in 
1628  was  given  a  parish  in  Essex.  Here  his  pro- 
nounced Puritanism  caused  him  to  be  summoned 
before  Laud,  but  he  escaped  excommunication.  He 
was,  however,  deprived  of  his  living  in  1633,  went 
to  New  England  in  1634,  and  served  as  assistant 
pastor  at  Agawam  (Ipswich),  till  ill-health  obliged 
him  to  surrender  the  charge  in  1636.  At  Ipswich  he 
helped  to  compile  the  first  code  of  laws,  The  Body  of 
Liberties  (1641),  which  was  fearless  and  somewhat 
radical  in  adapting  legal  philosophy  to  the  needs  of 
a  democratic  community.  The  Simple  Cobbler  was 
begun  in  164.5  and  printed  in  January,  1647,  before 
Ward's  return  to  England.  Three  other  editions, 
with  important  additions  and  changes,  speedily  fol- 
lowed. It  was  reprinted  in  1 7 1  3  and  again  in  1 843 
250 


NATHANIEL   WARD.  25  I 

at  Boston.  Under  the  Commonwealth,  Ward  was 
made  minister  of  the  church  at  Shenfield  (1648),  and 
held  that  office  till  his  death,  publishing  several  religio- 
political  pamphlets,  none  of  which  is  noteworthy. 
The  Simple  Cobbler  is  a  small  book,  easily  read 
through,  and  in  spite  of  its  bitterness,  and  its  lack  of 
toleration,  so  full  of  quaint  originality,  grim  humor 
and  power,  that  it  is  probably  the  most  interesting 
literary  performance  with  which  we  have  to  deal  in 
this  volume. 


THE 

SIMPLE   COBLER 

OF 

AGGAWAM  IN  AMERICA 

WILLING 

To  help  'mend  his  Native  Country,  lamentably 

tattered,  both  in  the  upper-Leather  and  sole, 

with  all  the  honest  stitches  he  can  take. 

And  as  willing  never  to  be  paid  for  his  work, 

by  Old  English  wonted  pay. 
//  is  his  trade  to  patch  all  the  year  long,  gratis 
Therefore  I  pray  Gentlemen  keep  your  purses. 

By  Theodore  de  la  Guard 

In  rebus  arduis  ac  tenui  spey  fortissima 
quaeque  consilia  tutissima  sunt.      Cic. 

In  English 

When  boots  and  shoes  are  torne  up  to  the  lefts, 
Coblers  must  thrust  their  awles  up  to  the  hefts. 

This  is  no  time  to  feare  Apelles  gramm  : 
Ne  Sutor  quidem  ultra  crepidam. 

LONDON 

Printed  by  J.  D.   &  R.   I.  for  Stephen  Boivtell,  at  the 
signe  of  the  Bible  in  Popes  Head-Alley,  1647. 


AGAINST   TOLERATION.  253 


AGAINST   TOLERATION. 

Either  I  am  in  an  appolexy,  or  that  man  is  in  a 
lethargy  who  doth  not  now  sensibly  feel  God  shaking 
the  heavens  over  his  head  and  the  earth  under  his 
feet.  .  .  .  Satan  is  now  in  his  passions,  he  feels 
his  passion  approaching,  he  loves  to  fish  in  royled 
waters.  Though  that  dragon  cannot  sting  the  vitals 
of  the  elect  mortally,  yet  that  Beelzebub  can  fly-blow 
their  intellectuals  miserably.  The  finer  religion 
grows,  the  finer  he  spins  his  cobwebs,  he  will  hold 
pace  with  Christ  so  long  as  his  wits  will  serve  him. 

.  .  .  We  have  been  reputed  a  Colluvies  of  wild 
Opinionists,  swarmed  into  a  remote  wilderness  to  find 
elbow-room  for  our  fanatic  doctrines  and  practices. 
I  trust  our  diligence  past,  and  constant  sedulity  against 
such  persons  and  courses,  will  plead  better  things  for 
us.  I  dare  take  upon  me  to  be  the  herald  of  New 
England  so  far  as  to  proclaim  to  the  world  in  the  name 
of  our  colony,  that  all  Familists,  Antinomians,  Anabap- 
tists, and  other  enthusiasts,  shall  have  free  liberty  to 
keep  away  from  us,  and  such  as  will  come  to  be  gone 
as  fast  as  they  can,  the  sooner  the  better.    .    .    . 

Here  is  lately  brought  us  an  extract  of  a  Magna 
Charta  so  called,  compiled  between  the  sub-planters 
of  a  West  Indian  Island  ;  whereof  the  first  article  of 
consituplation,  firmly  provides  free  stable  room  and 
litter  for  all  kind  of  consciences,  be  they  never  so 


254  NATHANIEL  WARD. 

dirty  or  jadish  ;  making  it  actionable,  yea,  treason- 
able, to  disturb  any  man  in  his  religion,  or  to  discom- 
mend it,  whatever  it  be.  .  .  .  If  the  devil  might 
have  his  free  option  I  believe  he  would  ask  nothing 
else  but  liberty  to  enfranchise  all  false  religions  and  to 
embondage  the  truth  ;   nor  should  he  need.    .    .    . 

My  heart  hath  naturally  detested  four  things  ;  The 
Standing  of  the  Apochrypha  in  the  Bible  ;  Foreigners 
dwelling  in  my  country,  to  crowd  our  native  subjects 
into  the  corners  of  the  earth  ;  Alchymized  coins  ; 
Toleration  of  divers  religions  or  of  one  religion  in 
segregant  shapes.  He  that  willingly  assents  to  the 
last,  if  he  examines  his  heart  by  daylight,  his  con- 
science will  tell  him  he  is  either  an  Atheist  or  an 
Heretic  or  an  Hyprocrite  or  at  best  a  captive  to  some 
lust.  Poly-piety  is  the  greatest  impiety  in  the 
world.  ...  I  lived  in  a  city,  where  a  Papist 
preached  in  one  church,  a  Lutheran  in  another,  a 
Calvinist  in  a  third  ;  a  Lutheran  one  part  of  the  day, 
a  Calvinist  the  other,  in  the  same  pulpit  ;  the  religion 
of  that  place  was  but  motley  and  meager,  their  affec- 
tions, leopard-like.  .  .  .  To  authorize  an  untruth, 
by  a  toleration  of  State  is  to  build  a  sconce  against  the 
walls  of  heaven  to  batter  God  out  of  His  chair.    .    .    . 


A  WISE  STATE  WILL  COMPOSE,  NOT 
TOLERATE  DIFFERENCES  IN  RELI- 
GION. 

That  State  is  wise,  that  will  improve  all  pains  and 
patience  rather  to  compose,  then  tolerate  differences 
in  religion.      There  is  no  divine  truth,  but  hath  much 


AGAINST  TOLERATION.  255 

celestial  fire  in  it  from  the  Spirit  of  Truth  :  nor  no 
irreligious  untruth,  without  its  proportion  of  antifire 
from  the  spirit  of  error  to  contradict  it  :  the  zeal  of 
the  one,  the  virulency  of  the  other,  must  necessarily 
kindle  combustions.  Fiery  diseases  seated  in  the 
spirit,  imbroil  the  whole  frame  of  the  body:  others 
more  external  and  cool,  are  less  dangerous.  They 
which  divide  in  religion,  divide  in  God  ;  they  who 
divide  in  him,  divide  beyond  Genus  Generalissimumy 
where  there  is  no  reconciliation,  without  atonement  ; 
that  is,  without  uniting  in  him,  who  is  One,  and  in 
his  Truth,  which  is  also  one. 

Wise  are  those  men  who  will  be  persuaded  rather 
to  live  within  the  pale  of  truth  where  they  may  be 
quiet,  than  in  the  purlieus,  where  they  are  sure  to 
be  haunted  ever  and  anon,  do  authority  what  it  can. 
Every  singular  opinion,  hath  a  singular  opinion  of 
itself;  and  he  that  holds  it  a  singular  opinion  of  him- 
self, and  a  simple  opinion  of  all  contra-sentients  :  he 
that  confutes  them,  must  confute  at  three  at  once,  or 
else  he  does  nothing  ;  which  will  not  be  done  with- 
out more  stir  than  the  peace  of  the  State  or  Church 
can  endure. 

And  prudent  are  those  Christians,  that  will  rather 
give  what  may  be  given,  then  hazard  all  by  yielding 
nothing.  To  sell  all  peace  of  country,  to  buy  some 
peace  of  conscience  unseasonably,  is  more  avarice 
than  thrift,  imprudence  than  patience  :  they  deal  not 
equally,  that  set  any  truth  of  God  at  such  a  rate  ; 
but  they  deal  wisely  that  will  stay  till  the  market  is 
fallen. 

My  prognostics  deceive  me  not  a  little,  if  once 
within  three    seven  years,   peace    prove    not  such  a 


256  NATHANIEL   WARD. 

penny-worth  at  most  marts  in  Christendom,  that  he 
that  would  not  lay  down  his  money,  his  lust,  his 
opinion,  his  will,  I  had  almost  said  the  best  flower  of 
his  crown  for  it,  while  he  might  have  had  it,  will 
tell  his  own  heart,  he  played  the  very  ill  husband. 

Concerning  tolerations  I  may  further  assert. 

That  persecution  of  true  religion  and  toleration  of 
false,  are  the  Jannes  and  Jambres  to  the  Kingdom  of 
Christ,  whereof  the  last  is  far  the  worst.  Augus- 
tine* s  tongue  had  not  owed  his  mouth  one  pennyrent 
though  he  had  never  spake  word  more  in  it,  but  this, 
Nullum  malum  pejus  libertate  errandi. 

Frederick  Duke  of  Saxon,  spake  not  one  foot  beyond 
the  mark  when  he  said.  He  had  rather  the  earth 
should  swallow  him  up  quick,  than  he  should  give 
a  toleration  to  any  opinion  against  any  truth  of  God. 

He  that  is  willing  to  tolerate  any  religion,  or  dis- 
crepant way  of  religion,  besides  his  own,  unless  it  be 
in  matters  merely  indifferent,  either  doubts  of  his 
own,   or  is  not  sincere  in  it. 

He  that  is  willing  to  tolerate  any  unsound  opinion, 
that  his  own  may  also  be  tolerated,  though  never  so 
sound,  will  for  a  need  hang  God's  Bible  at  the 
Devil's  girdle. 

Every  toleration  of  false  religions,  or  opinions  hath 
as  many  errors  and  sins  in  it,  as  all  the  false  religions 
and  opinions  it  tolerates,  and  one  sound  one  more. 

That  state  that  will  give  liberty  of  conscience  in 
matters  of  religion,  must  give  liberty  of  conscience 
and  conversation  in  their  moral  laws,  or  else  the  fid- 
dle will  be  out  of  tune,  and  some  of  the  strings 
crack. 

He  that  will  rather  make  an  irreligious  quarrel  with 


AGAINST   TOLERATION.  257 

other  religions  than  try  the  Truth  of  his  own  by  val- 
uable arguments,  and  peaceable  sufferings  ;  either  his 
religion,  or  himself  is  irreligious. 

Experience  will  teach  Churches  and  Christians,  that 
it  is  far  better  to  live  in  a  state  united,  though  a  little 
corrupt,  then  in  a  state,  whereof  some  part  is  incor- 
rupt, and  all  the  rest  divided. 

I  am  not  altogether  ignorant  of  the  eight  rules 
given  by  orthodox  divines  about  giving  tolerations, 
yet  with  their  favour  I  dare  affirm, 

That  there  is  no  Rule  given  by  God  for  any  state 
to  give  an  affirmative  toleration  to  any  false  religion, 
or  opinion  whatsoever  ;  they  must  connive  in  some 
cases,  but  may  not  concede  in  any. 

That  the  state  of  England  (so  far  as  my  intelligence 
serves)  might  in  time  have  prevented  with  ease  and 
may  yet  without  any  great  difficulty  deny  both  tolera- 
tion, and  irregular  connivences  salva  Republica. 

That  if  the  state  of  England  shall  either  willingly 
tolerate,  or  weakly  connive  at  such  courses,  the  church 
of  that  kingdom  will  sooner  become  the  devil's  danc- 
ing-school, than  God's  temple  :  The  Civil  State  a 
bear-garden,  than  an  exchange  :  The  whole  Realm  a 
Pais  base  than  an  England.  And  what  pity  it  is,  that 
that  country  which  hath  been  the  staple  of  truth  to  all 
Christendom,  should  now  become  the  aviary  of  errors 
to  the  whole  world,  let  every  fearing  heart  judge. 

I  take  liberty  of  conscience  to  be  nothing  but^  a 
freedom  from  sin  and  error.  Conscientia  in  tantum 
libera  in  quantum  ab  errore  liberata.  And  liberty  of 
error  nothing  but  a  prison  for  conscience.  Then 
small  will  be  the  kindness  of  a  state  to  build  such 
prisons  for  their  subjects. 


258  NATHANIEL   WARD. 

The  Scripture  saith,  there  is  nothing  makes  free 
but  truth,  and  truth  saith,  there  is  no  truth  but  one  : 
If  the  States  of  the  World  would  make  it  their  sum- 
operous  care  to  preserve  this  one  truth  in  its  purity 
and  authority  it  would  ease  you  of  all  other  political 
cares.  I  am  sure  Satan  makes  it  his  grand,  if  not 
only  task,  to  adulterate  truth  ;  Falsehood  is  his  sole 
sceptre,  whereby  he  first  ruffled,  and  ever  since  ruined 
the  World. 

If  truth  be  but  one,  methinks  all  the  opinionists 
in  England  should  not  be  all  in  that  one  truth,  some 
of  them  I  doubt  are  out.  He  that  can  extract  an 
unity  out  of  such  a  disparity,  or  contract  such  a  dis- 
parity into  an  unity  ;  had  need  be  a  better  artist,  than 
ever  was  DrebelL 

If  two  centres  (as  we  may  suppose)  be  in  one 
circle,  and  lines  drawn  from  both  to  all  the  points  of 
the  compass,  they  will  certainly  cross  one  another, 
and  probably  cut  through  the  centres  themselves. 

There  is  talk  of  an  universal  toleration,  I  would 
talk  as  loud  as  I  could  against  it,  did  I  know  what 
more  apt  and  reasonable  sacrifice  England  could  offer 
to  God  for  his  late  performing  all  his  heavenly  truths 
than  an  universal  toleration  of  all  hellish  errors,  or 
how  they  shall  make  an  universal  reformation,  but  by 
making  Christ's  academy  the  Divil's  university,  where 
any  man  may  commence  heretic  per  saltum  ;  where  he 
that  is  filius  Diabo/icus,  or  simpliciter  pessimusy  may 
have  his  grace  to  go  to  Hell  cum  Publico  Privilegio  ; 
and  carry  as  many  after  him,  as  he  can.    .    .    . 

It  is  said,  though  a  man  have  light  enough  himself 
to  see  the  truth,  yet  if  he  hath  not  enough  to  enlighten 
others,  he  is  bound  to   tolerate   them,  I  will  engage 


AGAINST   TOLERATION.  259 

my  self,  that  all  the  devils  in  Britanie  shall  sell  them- 
selves to  their  shirts,  to  purchase  a  lease  of  this  posi- 
tion for  three  of  their  lives,  under  the  seale  of  the 
Parliament. 

It  is  said,  that  men  ought  to  have  liberty  of  their 
conscience,  and  that  it  is  persecution  to  debar  them 
of  it  :  I  can  rather  stand  amazed  than  reply  to  this  :  it 
is  an  astonishment  to  think  that  the  brains  of  men 
should  be  parboiled  in  such  impious  ignorance.  Let 
all  the  wits  under  the  heavens  lay  their  heads  together 
and  find  an  assertion  worse  than  this  (one  excepted) 
I  will  petition  to  be  chosen  the  universal  idiot  of  the 
world. 

It  is  said,  That  civill  magistrates  ought  not  to  med- 
dle with  ecclesiastical  matters. 

I  would  answer  to  this  so  well  as  I  could,  did  I 
not  know  that  some  papers  lately  brought  out  of  New- 
England,  are  going  to  the  Press,  wherein  the  opinions 
of  the  Elders  there  in  a  late  Synod,  concerning  this 
point  are  manifested,  which  I  suppose  will  give 
clearer  satisfaction  than  I  can. 

The  true  English  of  all  this  their  false  Latin,  is 
nothing  but  a  general  toleration  of  all  opinions  :  which 
motion  if  it  be  like  to  take,  it  were  very  requisite,  that 
the  City  would  repair  PauP ' s  with  all  the  speed  they 
can,  for  an  English  Pantheon,  and  bestow  it  upon  the 
sectaries,  freely  to  assemble  in,  then  there  may  be 
some  hope  that  London  will  be  quiet  in  time.    .    .    . 

If  all  be  true  we  hear,  never  was  any  people 
under  the  sun  so  sick  of  new  opinions  as  Englishmen 
nor  of  new  fashions  as  Englishwomen.  If  God  help 
not  the  one  and  the  devil  leave  not  helping  the  other,  a 
blind  man  may  easily  foresee  what  will  become  of  both. 


)0  NATHANIEL   WARD. 


CONCERNING   WOMEN'S   FASHIONS. 

Should  I  not  keep  promise  in  speaking  a  little  to 
Women's  fashions,  they  would  take  it  unkindly.  I 
was  loath  to  pester  better  matter  with  such  stuff;  I 
rather  thought  it  meet  to  let  them  stand  by  them- 
selves, like  the  Quse  Genus  in  the  grammar,  being 
deficients,  or  redundants,  not  to  be  brought  under 
any  rule  :  I  shall  therefore  make  bold  for  this  once, 
to  borrow  a  little  of  their  loose-tongued  liberty,  and 
misspend  a  word  or  two  upon  their  long-waisted,  but 
short-skirted  patience  :  a  little  use  of  my  stirrup  will 
do  no  harm.    ... 

It  is  known  more  than  enough,  that  I  am  neither 
niggard,  nor  cynic,  to  the  due  bravery  of  the  true 
gentry.  I  honor  the  woman  that  can  honor  her- 
self with  her  attire  ;  a  good  text  always  deserves  a 
fair  margent  ;  I  am  not  much  offended  if  I  see  a  trim 
far  trimmer  than  she  that  wears  it.  In  a  word, 
whatever  Christianity  or  civility  will  allow,  I  can 
afford  with  London  measure  :  but  when  I  hear  a 
nugiperous  gentledame  inquire  what  dress  the  queen 
is  in  this  week  :  what  the  nudiustertian  fashion  of 
the  court  ;  I  mean  the  very  newest  ;  with  egg  to  be 
in  it  in  all  haste,  whatever  it  be  ;  I  look  at  her  as  the 
very  gizzard  of  a  trifle,  the  product  of  a  quarter  of  a 
cipher,  the  epitome  of  nothing,  fitter  to  be  kicked,  if 
she  were  of  a  kickable  substance,  than  either  honored 
or  humored. 

To  speak  moderately,  I  truly  confess  it  is  beyond 
the  ken  of  my  understanding  to  conceive  how  those 
women  should  have  any  true  grace,  or  valuable  vir- 


CONCERNING  WOMEN'S  FASHIONS.     26  1 

tue,  that  have  so  little  wit,  as  to  disfigure  themselves 
with  such  exotic  garbs,  as  not  only  dismantles  their 
native  lovely  lustre,  but  transclouts  them  into  gant  bar- 
geese,  ill-shapen-shotten  shell-fish,  Egyptian  hiero- 
glyphics, or  at  the  best  into  French  flurfs  of  the 
pastery,  which  a  proper  English  woman  should  scorn 
with  her  heels.  It  is  no  marvel  they  wear  drails 
on  the  hinder  part  of  their  heads,  having  nothing  as 
it  seems  in  the  forepart,  but  a  few  squirrels'  brains 
to  help  them  frisk  from  one  ill-favored  fashion  to 
another. 

These  whim  Crown'd  shes,  these  fashion-fancying  wits, 
Are  empty  thin  brain'd  shells,  and  fiddling  Kits. 

The  very  troublers  and  impoverishers  of  mankind,  J 
can  hardly  forbear  to  commend  to  the  world  a  saying 
of  a  lady  living  some  time  with  the  Queen  of  Bohe- 
mia ;  I  know  not  where  she  found  it,  but  it  is  pity  it 
should  be  lost. 

The  world  is  full  of  care,  much  like  unto  a  bubble, 
Women  and  care,  and  care  and  Women,  and  Women  and  care 
and  trouble. 

The  verses  are  even  enough  for  such  odd  pegma's. 
I  can  make  myself  sick  at  any  time,  with  comparing 
the  dazzling  splendor  wherewith  our  gentlewomen 
were  embellished  in  some  former  habits,  with  the 
gut-foundered  goosedom,  wherewith  they  are  now 
surcingled  and  debauched.  We  have  about  five  or 
six  of  them  in  our  colony  :  if  I  see  any  of  them  acci- 
dentally, I  cannot  cleanse  my  fancy  of  them  for  a 
month  after.  I  have  been  a  solitary  widower  almost 
twelve  years,  purposed  lately  to  make  a  step  over  to 


262  NATHANIEL   WARD. 

my  native  country  for  a  yoke-fellow  :  but  when  I 
consider  how  women  there  have  tripe-wifed  them- 
selves with  their  cladments,  I  have  no  heart  to  the 
voyage,  lest  their  nauseous  shapes  and  the  sea,  should 
work  too  sorely  upon  my  stomach.  J  speak  sadly  ; 
methinks  it  should  break  the  hearts  of  English  men, 
to  see  so  many  goodly  English  women  imprisoned 
in  French  cages,  peering  out  of  their  hood  holes  for 
some  men  of  mercy  to  help  them  with  a  little  wit, 
and  nobody  relieves  them. 

It  is  a  more  common  than  convenient  saying,  that 
nine  tailors  make  a  man  :  it  were  well  if  nineteen 
could  make  a  woman  to  her  mind.  If  tailors  were 
men  indeed,  well  furnished  but  with  mere  moral  prin- 
ciples, they  would  disdain  to  be  led  about  like  apes, 
by  such  mimic  marmosets.  It  is  a  most  unworthy 
thing  for  men  that  have  bones  in  them,  to  spend  their 
lives  in  making  fiddle-cases  for  futilous  women's  fan- 
cies ;  which  are  the  very  pettitoes  of  infirmity,  the 
giblets  of  perquisquilian  toys.  I  am  so  charitable  to 
think,  that  most  of  that  mystery  would  work  the 
cheerfuller  while  they  live,  if  they  might  be  well  dis- 
charged of  the  tiring  slavery  of  mistiring  women.  It 
is  no  little  labor  to  be  continually  putting  up  English 
women,  into  outlandish  casks  ;  who  if  they  be  not 
shifted  anew,  once  in  a  few  months,  grow  too  sour 
for  their  husbands.  What  this  trade  will  answer  for 
themselves  when  God  shall  take  measure  of  tailors' 
consciences  is  beyond  my  skill  to  imagine.  There 
was  a  time  when, 

The  joining  of  the  Red  Rose  with  the  White, 
Did  set  our  State  into  a  Damask  plight. 


CONCERNING  WOMEN'S  FASHIONS.      263 

But  now  our  roses  are  turned  to  fiore  de  lices,  our 
carnations  to  tulips,  our  gillyflowers  to  daisies,  our 
city  dames,  to  an.  indenominable  qua?malry  of  over- 
turcased  things.  He  that  makes  coats  for  the  moon, 
had  need  take  measures  every  noon  :  and  he  that  makes 
for  women,  as  often,  to  keep  them  from  lunacy. 

I  have  often  heard  divers  ladies  vent  loud  feminine 
complaints  of  the  wearisome  varieties  and  chargeable 
changes  of  fashions  :  I  marvel  themselves  prefer  not  a 
bill  of  redress.  I  would  Essex  ladies  would  lead  the 
chore,  for  the  honor  of  their  county  and  persons  ;  or 
rather  the  thrice  honorable  ladies  of  the  court,  whom  it 
best  beseems  :  who  may  well  presume  of  a  Le  Roy  le 
veult  from  our  sober  King,  a  Les  Seigneurs  ont  assen- 
tus  from  our  prudent  peers,  and  the  like  Assentus,  from 
our  considerate,  I  dare  not  say  wife-worn  Commons  ; 
who  I  believe  had  much  rather  pass  one  such  bill, 
than  pay  so  many  tailor's  bills  as  they  are  forced  to 
do. 

Most  dear  and  unparalleled  ladies,  be  pleased  to 
attempt  it :  as  you  have  the  precellency  of  the 
women  of  the  world  for  beauty  and  feature ;  so 
assume  the  honor  to  give,  and  not  take  law  from 
any,  in  matter  of  attire.  If  ye  can  transact  so  fair  a 
motion  among  yourselves  unanimously,  I  dare  say, 
they  that  most  renite,  will  least  repent.  What 
greater  honor  can  your  honors  desire,  than  to  build  a 
promontory  precedent  to  all  foreign  ladies,  to  deserve 
so  eminently  at  the  hands  of  all  the  English  gentry 
present  and  to  come  :  and  to  confute  the  opinion  of 
all  the  wise  men  in  the  world  ;  who  never  thought 
it  possible  for  women  to  do  so  good  a  work. 

If  any  man  think  I  have  spoken  rather  merrily  than 


264  NATHANIEL  WARD. 

seriously  he  is  much  mistaken,  I  have  written  what 
I  write  with  all  the  indignation  I  can,  and  no  more 
than  I  ought.  I  confess  I  veered  my  tongue  to  this 
kind  of  language  de  industria  though  unwillingly,  sup- 
posing those  I  speak  to  are  uncapable  of  grave  and 
rational  arguments. 

I  desire  all  ladies  and  gentlewomen  to  understand 
that  all  this  while  I  intend  not  such  as  through  neces- 
sary modesty  to  avoid  morose  singularity,  follow 
fashions  slowly,  a  flight  shot  or  two  off,  showing  by 
their  moderation,  that  they  rather  draw  countermont 
with  their  hearts,  than  put  on  by  their  examples. 

I  point  my  pen  only  against  the  light-heeled  bea- 
gles that  lead  the  chase  so  fast,  that  they  run  all 
civility  out  of  breath,  against  these  ape-headed  pul- 
lets, which  invent  antique  fool-fangles,  merely  for 
fashion  and  novelty  sake. 

In  a  word,  if  I  begin  once  to  declaim  against 
fashions,  let  men  and  women  look  well  about  them, 
there  is  somewhat  in  the  business  ;  I  confess  to  the 
world,  I  never  had  grace  enough  to  be  strict  in  that 
kind  ;  and  of  late  years,  I  have  found  syrup  of  pride 
very  wholesome  in  a  due  dose,  which  makes  me  keep 
such  store  of  that  drug  by  me,  that  if  any  body 
comes  to  me  for  a  question-full  or  two  about  fashions, 
they  never  complain  of  me  for  giving  them  hard 
measure,  or  under  weight. 

But  I  address  myself  to  those  who  can  both  hear 
and  mend  all  if  they  please  :  I  seriously  fear,  if  the 
pious  Parliament  do  not  find  time  to  state  fashions, 
as  ancient  Parliaments  have  done  in  some  part,  God 
will  hardly  find  a  time  to  state  religion  or  peace.  They 
are  the  surquedries  of  pride,  the  wantonness  of  idle- 


CONCERNING  WOMEN'S  FASHIONS.      265 

ness,  provoking  sins,  the  certain  prodromies  of  assured 
judgment,  Zeph.  i.  7,  8. 

It  is  beyond  all  account  how  many  gentlemen's 
and  citizens'  estates  are  deplumed  by  their  feather- 
headed  wives,  what  useful  supplies  the  pannage  of 
England  would  afford  other  countries,  what  rich  re- 
turns to  itself,  if  it  were  not  sliced  out  into  male  and 
female  fripperies  :  and  what  a  multitude  of  misem- 
ployed hands  might  be  better  improved  in  some  more 
manly  manufactures  for  the  public  weal.  It  is  not 
easily  credible,  what  may  be  said  of  the  preterplurali- 
ties  of  tailors  in  London  :  I  have  heard  an  honest 
man  say,  that  not  long  since  there  were  numbered 
between  Temple-bar  and  Charing-Cross,  eight  thou- 
sand of  that  trade  ;  let  it  be  conjectured  by  that  pro- 
portion how  many  there  are  in  and  about  London, 
and  in  all  England  they  will  appear  to  be  very  nu- 
merous. If  the  Parliament  would  please  to  mend 
women,  which  their  husbands  dare  not  do,  there 
need  not  so  many  men  to  make  and  mend  as  there 
are.  I  hope  the  present  doleful  estate  of  the  realm 
will  persuade  more  strongly  to  some  considerate  course 
herein  than  I  now  can. 

Knew  I  how  to  bring  it  in,  I  would  speak  a  word 
to  long  hair,  whereof  I  will  say  no  more  but  this  : 
if  God  proves  not  such  a  Barber  to  it  as  he  threatens, 
unless  it  be  amended,  Esa.  vii.  20,  before  the  peace 
of  the  state  and  church  be  well  settled,  then  let  my 
prophecy  be  scorned,  as  a  sound  mind  scorns  the  riot 
of  that  sin,  and  more  it  needs  not.  If  those  who 
are  termed  rattleheads  and  impuritans,  would  take  up 
a  resolution  to  begin  in  moderation  of  hair,  to  the 
just  reproach  of  those  that  are  called   Puritans  and 


266  NATHANIEL  WARD. 

Roundheads,  I  would  honor  their  manliness  as  much 
as  the  others'  godliness,  so  long  as  I  knew  what  man 
or  honor  meant  :  if  neither  can  find  a  barber's  shop, 
let  them  turn  in,  to  Psal.  lxviii.  21,  Jer.  vii.  29, 
1  Cor.  xi.  14.  If  it  be  thought  no  wisdom  in  men 
to  distinguish  themselves  in  the  field  by  the  scissors, 
let  it  be  thought  no  injustice  in  God,  not  to  distin- 
guish them  by  the  sword.  I  had  rather  God  should 
know  me  by  my  sobriety,  than  mine  enemy  not  know 
me  by  my  vanity.  He  is  ill  kept,  that  is  kept  by  his 
own  sin.  A  short  promise  is  a  far  safer  guard  than  a 
long  lock  :  it  is  an  ill  distinction  which  God  is  loath 
to  look  at,  and  his  angels  can  not  know  his  saints  by. 
Though  it  be  not  the  mark  of  the  beast,  yet  it  may 
be  the  mark  of  a  beast  prepared  to  slaughter.  I  am 
sure  men  use  not  to  wear  such  names  ;  I  am  also 
sure  soldiers  use  to  wear  other  marklets  or  notadoes 
in  time  of  battle. 

Of  Reformation. 

When  states  are  so  reformed  that  they  conform 
such  as  are  profligate  into  good  civility  ;  civil  men,  into 
religious  morality  ;  when  Churches  are  so  constituted, 
that  Faith  is  ordained  pastor,  Truth  teacher,  Holiness 
and  Righteousness  ruling  elders  ;  Wisdom  and  Charity 
deacons ;  Knowledge,  love,  hope,  zeal,  heavenly-mind- 
edness,  meekness,  patience,  watchfulness,  humility, 
diligence,  sobriety,  modesty,  chastity,  constancy, 
prudence,  contentation,  innocency,  sincerity,  etc., 
admitted  members,  and  all  their  opposites  excluded  : 
then  there  will  be  peace  of  country  and  conscience. 

Did  the  servants  of  Christ  know  what  it  is  to  live 
in  Reformed  Churches  with  unreformed  spirits,  under 


OF  REFORMATION.  267 

strict  order  with  loose  hearts  ;  how  forms  of  Religion 
breed  but  forms  of  godliness  ;  how  men  by  church- 
discipline  learn  their  church-postures,  and  there  rest  : 
—  they  would  pray  as  hard  for  purity  of  heart,  as 
purity  of  ordinances.  If  we  mock  God  in  these, 
He  will  mock  us  ;  either  with  defeat  of  our  hopes, 
or  which  is  worse,  when  we  have  what  we  so  much 
desire,  we  shall  be  so  much  the  worse  for  it.  It  was 
a  well  salted  speech,  uttered  by  an  English  christian 
of  a  Reformed  Church  in  the  Netherlands:  "We 
have  the  good  orders  here,  but  you  have  the  good 
christians  in  England."  He  that  prizes  not  Old 
England  graces,  as  much  as  New-England  ordinances, 
had  need  go  to  some  other  market  before  he  comes 
hither.  In  a  word,  he  that  is  not  pastor,  teacher,  ruler, 
deacon  and  brother  to  himself,  and  looks  not  at  Christ 
above  all,  it  matters  not  a  farthing  whether  he  be 
Presbyterian  or  Independent  ;  he  may  be  a  zealot  in 
bearing  witness  to  which  he  likes  best,  and  yet  an 
Iscariot  to  both,  in  the  witness  of  his  own  conscience. 
I  have  upon  strict  observation  seen  so  much  power 
of  godliness  and  spiritual-mindedness  in  English  chris- 
tians, living  merely  upon  sermons  and  private  duties, 
hardly  come  by,  when  the  Gospel  was  little  more 
than  symptomatica!  to  the  state  ;  such  epidemical  and 
lethal  formality  in  other  disciplinated  churches,  that  I 
profess  in  the  hearing  of  God,  my  heart  hath  mourned, 
and  mine  eyes  wept  in  secret,  to  consider  what  will 
become  of  multitudes  of  my  dear  countrymen  when 
they  shall  enjoy  what  they  now  covet.  Not  that 
good  ordinances  breed  ill  consciences,  but  ill  con- 
sciences grow  stark  naught  under  good  ordinances  ; 
insomuch  that  might  I  wish  an  hypocrite  the  most 


268  NATHANIEL  WARD. 

perilous  place  but  Hell,  I  should  wish  him  a  member- 
ship in  a  strict  Reformed  Church  :  and  might  I  wish 
a  sincere  servant  of  God  the  greatest  grief  earth  can 
afford,  I  should  wish  him  to  live  with  a  pure  heart, 
in  a  church  impurely  reformed  ;  yet  through  the  im- 
provement of  God's  Spirit,  that  grief  may  sanctify 
him  for  God's  service  and  presence,  as  much  as  the 
means  he  would  have,  but  cannot. 


A    WORD   OF   IRELAND. 

Not  of  the  Nation  universally,  nor  of  any  man  in  it,  that  hath  so 
much  as  one  hair  of  Christianity  or  Humanity  growing  on  his 
Head  or  Beard,  but  only  of  the  truculent  Cutthroats,  and  such 
as  shall  take  up  Arms  in  their  Defence. 

These  Irish  anciently  called  Anthropophagi,  man- 
eaters,  have  a  tradition  among  them,  that  when  the 
Devil  showed  our  Saviour  all  the  Kingdoms  of  the 
Earth  and  their  glory,  that  he  would  not  show  him 
Ireland,  but  reserved  it  for  himself;  it  is  probably 
true,  for  he  hath  kept  it  ever  since  for  his  own  pecul- 
iar ;  the  old  Fox  foresaw  it  would  eclipse  the  glory 
of  all  the  rest.  He  thought  it  wisdom  to  keep  the 
Land  for  a  Boggards  for  his  unclean  spirits  employed 
in  this  Hemisphere,  and  the  people,  to  do  his  son  and 
heir,  I  mean  the  Pope,  that  service  for  which  Louis 
the  Eleventh  kept  his  Barber  Oliver,  which  makes 
them  so  blood-thirsty.  They  are  the  very  offal  of 
men,  dregs  of  mankind,  reproach  of  Christendom,  the 
bots  that  crawl  on  the  Beast's  tail,  I  wonder  Rome 
itself  is  not  ashamed  of  them. 


PRAISE  OF  MISTRESS  BRADSTREET.     269 

I  beg  upon  my  hands  and  knees  that  the  expedition 
against  them  may  be  undertaken  while  the  hearts  and 
hands  of  our  soldiery  are  hot,  to  whom  I  will  be  bold 
to  say  briefly  :  Happy  is  he  that  shall  reward  them  as 
they  have  served  us,  and  cursed  be  he  that  shall  do 
that  work  of  the  Lord  negligently.  Cursed  be  he  that 
holdeth  back  his  sword  from  blood  :  yea,  cursed  be 
he  that  maketh  not  his  sword  stark  drunk  with  Irish 
blood,  that  doth  not  recompense  them  double  for  their 
hellish  treachery  to  the  English,  that  maketh  them  not 
heaps  upon  heaps,  and  their  country  a  dwelling  place 
for  Dragons,  an  Astonishment  to  Nations.  Let  not 
that  eye  look  for  pity,  nor  that  hand  to  be  spared,  that 
pities  or  spares  them,  and  let  him  be  accursed,  that 
curseth  not  them  bitterly. 

[From  the  Same.] 

Poetry's  a  gift  wherein  but  few  excell  ; 
He  doth  very  ill  that  doth  not  passing  well. 
But  he  doth  passing  well  that  doth  his  best, 
And  he  doth  best  that  passeth  all  the  rest. 

IN    PRAISE    OF    MISTRESS    BRADSTREET. 

[Prefixed  to  "  The  Tenth  Muse."      1650.] 

Mercury  show'd  Apollo,  Bartas'  book, 

Minerva  this,  and  wish'd  him  well  to  look, 

And  tell  uprightly,  which  did  which  excel  : 

He  view'd  and  view'd,  and  vow'd  he  could  not  tell. 

They  bid  him  hemisphere  his  mouldy  nose, 

With  's  crack*  d  leering  glasses,  for  it  would  pose 


270 


NATHANIEL  WARD. 


The  best  brains  he  had  in  's  old  pudding-pan, 
Sex  weigh' d,  which  best,  the  woman  or  the  man  t. 
He  peer'd,  and  por'd,  and  glar'd,  and  said  for  wore, 
I'm  even  as  wise  now,  as  I  was  before. 
They  both  'gan  laugh,  and  said,  it  was  no  mar'l 
The  auth'ress  was  a  right  Du  Bartas  girl. 
Good  sooth,  quoth  the  old  Don,  tell  me  ye  so, 
I  muse  whither  at  length  these  girls  will  go. 
It  half  revives  my  chill  frost-bitten  blood, 
To  see  a  woman  once  do  aught  that's  good  ; 
And  chode  bv  Chaucer's  Doots  and  Homer:s  furs. 
Let  men  look  tia\.  lesr  womeii  wear  the  spurs. 


ANNE    BRADSTREET. 

Anne  Bradstreet,  the  chief  poetess  of  Colonial 
America,  was  probably  born  at  Northampton,  about 
1 6 1  2,  and  died  in  Boston,  September  16,  1672.  She 
was  a  daughter  of  Governor  Thomas  Dudley,  and  mar- 
ried the  future  Governor  Bradstreet  in  1628.  With 
him  she  went  to  New  England  (1630),  and  in  the 
intervals  of  household  duties  involved  in  the  rearing 
of  eight  children,  became  a  devoted  author,  who 
won  for  herself  from  her  compatriots  the  admiring 
designation,  "  The  Tenth  Muse."  Her  poems  were 
published  under  a  title  which  gives  a  tabular  view  of 
their  contents,  to  wit:  "The  Tenth  Muse,  lately 
Sprung  up  in  America,  or  Several  Poems  Compiled 
with  Great  Variety  of  Wit  and  Learning,  Full  of  De- 
light, Wherein  especially  is  Contained  a  Complete 
Discourse  and  Description  of  the  Four  Elements,  Con- 
stitutions, Ages  of  Man,  Seasons  of  the  Year,  together 
with  an  exact  Epitome  of  the  Four  Monarchies, 
viz.,  The  Assyrian,  Persian,  Grecian,  Roman.  Also 
a  Dialogue  between  Old  England  and  New,  con- 
cerning the  late  troubles.  With  divers  other  pleasant 
and  serious  Poems,  By  a  Gentlewoman  in  those  parts  " 
(London,  1650).  A  second,  this  time  American, 
edition  appeared  at  Boston  six  years  after  her  death, 
with  additions,  among  which  is  Contemplations,  her 
best  poem.  Her  complete  works  were  edited  by 
271 


272  ANNE    BRADSTREET. 

J.  H.  Ellis  (1867),  and  for  the  Society  of  the 
Duodecimos,  1897,  with  an  introduction  by  Pro- 
fessor Charles  Eliot  Norton,  one  of  Mrs.  Bradstreet's 
descendants. 

Mrs.  Bradstreet's  verses  are  in  the  main  a  store- 
house of  curious  information,  the  most  curious  thing 
about  them  being  the  admiration  they  excited.  Cot- 
ton Mather  said  they  "would  outlast  the  stateliest 
marble."  Other  contemporaries  "weltered  in  de- 
light" or  were  "sunk  in  a  sea  of  bliss "  at  their 
perusal.  They  were  at  least  the  best  of  her  land  and 
generation.  They  show  an  indomitable  assertion  of 
a  woman's  right  to  thought  and  learning.  The  Four 
Monarchies  is  based  on  Sir  Walter  Raleigh's  History 
of  the  World,  but  she  drew  her  chief  poetic  inspira- 
tion from  Sylvester's  translation  of  the  French  epic  of 
Creation  by  Du  Bartas.  As  one  of  the  first  Ameri- 
can writers  to  devote  herself  to  literature  for  its  own 
sake,  she  deserves  an  honored  place  in  the  history  of 
New  England  culture.  Nor  is  it  certain  that  her 
genuine  talents  have  received  just  recognition  from 
posterity.  She  is  not  a  Tenth  Muse  or  a  Sappho, 
but  her  works  are  no  more  disappointing  than  those 
of  belauded  contemporary  British  poetesses  like  "  the 
Matchless  Orinda"  (Mrs.  Katharine  Phillips).  It 
is  quite  true  that  much  of  her  poetry  is  hopelessly  pon- 
derous and  dull,  in  the  style  of  her  favorite  English 
master,  Joshua  Sylvester.  It  is  true  also  that  at  first 
she  seems  to  have  no  eye  for  the  beauties  of  nature, 
and  that  she  gives  us  no  entertaining  realistic  pic- 
tures of  primitive  New  England  life.  But  it  is 
equally  true  that  her  work  shows  improvement,  that 
in  all  probability  Spenser  became  her  master  instead 


THE   PROLOGUE.  273 

of  Sylvester,  and  that  in  the  stanzas  entitled,  Contem- 
plations she  showed  a  feeling  both  for  nature  and  for 
style.  Her  verses  to  her  husband  and  her  children 
are  heartfelt  and  simple,  and  her  prose  Observations 
show  her  to  have  been  possessed  of  a  mind  not  lack- 
ing in  clearness  and  depth.  She  tells  us  plainly  that 
she  found  the  ways  of  the  New  World  trying  to  a 
woman  of  gentle  rearing,  and  she  shows,  perhaps  un- 
consciously, that  she  could  not  bring  herself  to  con- 
template God  entirely  on  his  sterner  side.  In  fine, 
her  writings  show  her  to  have  been  a  gifted  woman, 
in  whom  it  is  quite  possible  for  latter-day  readers  to 
take  a  respectful  interest. 


THE  PROLOGUE. 

To  sing  of  wars,  of  captains,  and  of  kings, 
Of  cities  founded,  commonwealths  begun, 

For  my  mean  pen  are  too  superior  things  : 

Or  how  they  all,  or  each,  their  dates  have  run, 

Let  poets  and  historians  set  these  forth, 

My  obscure  lines  shall  not  so  dim  their  worth. 

But  when  my  wondering  eyes  and  envious  heart 
Great  Bartas'  sugared  lines  do  but  read  o'er, 

Fool  I  do  grudge  the  Muses  did  not  part 

'Twixt  him  and  me  that  ever  fluent  store  :  — 

A  Bartas  can  do  what  a  Bartas  will, 

But  simple  I  according  to  my  skill. 

From  school-boys'  tongue  no  rhetoric  we  expect, 
Not  yet  a  sweet  consort  from  broken  strings, 


274  ANNE    BRADSTREET. 

Nor  perfect  beauty  where 's  a  main  defect  : 

My  foolish,  broken,  blemished  Muse  so  sings  : 
And  this  to  mend,  alas,  no  art  is  able, 
'Cause  nature  made  it  so  irreparable. 

Nor  can  I,  like  that  fluent,  sweet-tongued  Greek 
Who  lisped  at  first,  in  future  time  speak  plain  ; 

By  art  he  gladly  found  what  he  did  seek  — 
A  full  requital  of  his  striving  pain ; 

Art  can  do  much,  but  this  maxim  's  most  sure  : 

A  weak  or  wounded  brain  admits  no  cure. 

I  am  obnoxious  to  each  carping  tongue 
Who  says  my  hand  a  needle  better  fits  ; 

A  poet's  pen  all  scorn  I  should  thus  wrong; 
For  such  despite  they  cast  on  female  wits  ; 

If  what  I  do  prove  well,  it  won't  advance  — 

They  '11  say  it 's  stolen,  or  else  it  was  by  chance. 

But  sure  the  antique  Greeks  were  far  more  mild, 
Else  of  our  sex  why  feigned  they  those  nine, 

And  Poesy  made  Calliope's  own  child  ? 

So  'mongst  the  rest  they  placed  the  Arts  Divine  ; 

But  this  weak  knot  they  will  full  soon  untie  — 

The  Greeks  did  naught  but  play  the  fools  and  lie. 

Let  Greeks  be  Greeks,  and  women  what  they  are 
Men  have  precedency,  and  still  excel, 

It  is  but  vain  unjustly  to  wage  war : 

Men  can  do  best,  and  women  know  it  well  ; 

Preeminence  in  all  and  each  is  yours  — 

Yet  grant  some  small  acknowledgment  of  ours. 


FOUR   AGES   OF    MAN.  275 

And  oh,  ye  high  flown  quills  that  soar  the  skies, 
And  ever  with  your  prey  still  catch  your  praise, 

If  e'er  you  deign  these  lowly  lines  your  eyes, 
Give  thyme  or  parsley  wreath  ;   I  ask  no  bays, 

This  mean  and  unrefined  ore  of  mine 

Will  make  you  glistering  gold,  but  more  to  shine. 


NUMA   POMPILIUS. 

[From   "The  Four   Monarchies.'1] 

Numa  Pompilius  next  chose  they  king, 

Held  for  his  piety  some  sacred  thing. 

To  Janus  he  that  famous  temple  built, 

Kept  shut  in  peace,  set  ope  when  blood  was  spilt 

Religious  rites  amd  customs  instituted, 

And  priests  and  flamens  likewise  he  deputed, 

Their  augurs  strange,  their  gestures  and  attire, 

And  vestal  maids  to  keep  the  holy  fire. 

The  nymph  Aegeria  this  to  him  told, 

So  to  delude  the  people  he  was  bold. 

Forty-three  years  he  ruled  with  generous  praise, 

Accounted  for  a  god  in  after  days. 

OF   THE    FOUR    AGES    OF    MAN. 

Lo,  now  four  other  act  upon  the  stage, 
Childhood  and  Youth,  the  Manly  and  Old  Age  : 
The  first  son  unto  phlegm,  grandchild  to  water, 
Unstable,  supple,  cold  and  moist  's  his  nature. 
The  second,  frolic,  claims  his  pedigree 


2/6  ANNE    BRADSTREET. 

From  blood  and  air,  for  hot  and  moist  is  he. 

The  third  of  fire  and  choler  is  compos' d, 

Vindicative  and  quarrelsome  dispos'd. 

The  last  of  earth  and  heavy  melancholy, 

Solid,  hating  all  lightness  and  all  folly. 

Childhood  was  cloth' d  in  white  and  green  to  show 

His  spring  was  intermixed  with  some  snow  : 

Upon  his  head  nature  a  garland  set 

Of  Primrose,  Daisy  and  the  Violet. 

Such  cold  mean  flowers  the  spring  puts  forth  betime, 

Before  the  sun  hath  throughly  heat  the  clime. 

His  hobby  striding  did  not  ride  but  run, 

And  in  his  hand  an  hour-glass  new  begun, 

In  danger  every  moment  of  a  fall, 

And  when  't  is  broke  then  ends  his  life  and  all : 

But  if  he  hold  till  it  have  run  its  last, 

Then  may  he  live  out  threescore  years  or  past. 

Next  Youth  came  up  in  gorgeous  attire 

(As  that  fond  age  doth  most  of  all  desire), 

His  suit  of  crimson  and  his  scarf  of  green, 

His  pride  in  's  countenance  was  quickly  seen  ; 

Garland  of  roses,  pinks  and  gillyflowers 

Seemed  on  's  head  to  grow  bedew' d  with  showers. 

His  face  as  fresh  as  is  Aurora  fair, 

When  blushing  she  first  'gins  to  light  the  air. 

No  wooden  horse,  but  one  of  mettle  tried, 

He  seems  to  fly  or  swim,  and  not  to  ride. 

Then  prancing  on  the  stage,  about  he  wheels, 

But  as  he  went  death  waited  at  his  heels. 

The  next  came  up  in  a  much  graver  sort, 

As  one  that  cared  for  a  good  report, 

His  sword  by  's  side,  and  choler  in  his  eyes, 

But  neither  us'd  as  yet,  for  he  was  wise  ; 


PRINCESS  QUEEN  ELIZABETH.       277 

Of  Autumn's  fruits  a  basket  on  his  arm, 

His  golden  god  in  's  purse,  which  was  his  charm. 

And  last  of  all  to  act  upon  this  stage 

Leaning  upon  his  staff  came  up  Old  Age, 

Under  his  arm  a  sheaf  of  wheat  he  bore, 

An  harvest  of  the  best,  what  needs  he  more  ? 

In  's  other  hand  a  glass  ev'n  almost  run, 

Thus  writ  about  :    «<  This  out,  then  am  I  done." 


IN  HONOR  OF  THAT  HIGH  AND  MIGHTY 
PRINCESS  QUEEN  ELIZABETH  OF  HAPPY 
MEMORY. 

The  Proem. 

Although,  great  queen,  thou  now  in  silence  lie, 

Yet  thy  loud  herald,  fame,  doth  to  the  sky 

Thy  wondrous  worth  proclaim  in  every  clime, 

And  so  hath  vowed  while  there  is  world  or  time. 

So  great  's  thy  glory  and  thine  excellence 

The  sound  thereof  rapts  every  human  sense, 

That  men  account  it  no  impiety 

To  say  thou  wert  a  fleshly  deity. 

Thousands  bring  offerings,  though  out  of  date, 

Thy  world  of  honors  to  accumulate  ; 

'Mongst  hundred  hecatombs  of  roaring  verse, 

Mine  bleating  stands  before  thy  royal  hearse. 

Thou  never  didst  nor  canst  thou  now  disdain 

To  accept  the  tribute  of  a  loyal  brain  : 

Thy  clemency  did  erst  esteem  as  much 

The  acclamations  of  the  poor  as  rich, 

Which  makes  me  deem  my  rudeness  is  no  wrong, 

Though  I  resound  thy  praises  'mongst  the  throng. 


2/8  ANNE    BRADSTREET. 

The   Poem. 

No  phenix  pen,  nor  Spenser's  poetry, 
No[r]  Speed's  nor  Camden's  learned  history, 
Eliza's  works,  wars,  praise,  can  e'er  compact; 
The  world's  the  theatre  where  she  did  act. 
No  memories  nor  volumes  can  contain 
The  eleven  olympiads  of  her  happy  reign, 
Who  was  so  good,  so  just,  so  learned,  so  wise, 
From  all  the  kings  on  earth  she  won  the  prize. 
Nor  say  1  more  than  duly  is  her  due  ; 
Millions  will  testify  that  this  is  true. 
She  hath  wiped  off  the  aspersion  of  her  sex, 
That  women  wisdom  lack  to  play  the  rex. 

A    LOVE-LETTER   TO    HER   HUSBAND. 

[From  the  Edition  of    1678.] 

Phcebus  make  haste,  the  day  's  too  long,  begone, 

The  silent  night  's  the  fittest  time  for  moan  ; 

But  stay  this  once,  unto  my  suit  give  ear, 

And  tell  my  griefs  in  either  Hemisphere  : 

(And  if  the  whirling  of  thy  wheels  don't  drown' d 

The  woful  accents  of  my  doleful  sound), 

if  in  thy  swift  career  thou  canst  make  stay, 

I  crave  this  boon,  this  errand  by  the  way  : 

Commend  me  to  the  man  more  lov'd  than  life, 

Show  him  the  sorrows  of  his  widow' d  wife, 

My  dumpish  thoughts,  my  groans,  my  brackish  tears, 

My  sobs,  my  longing  hopes,  my  doubting  fears, 

And,  if  he  love,  how  can  he  there  abide  ? 


A    LOVE-LETTER.  279 

My  interest  's  more  than  all  the  world  beside. 

He  that  can  tell  the  stars  or  Ocean  sand, 

Or  all  the  grass  that  in  the  meads  do  stand, 

The  leaves  in  th'  woods,  the  hail  or  drops  of  rain, 

Or  in  a  cornfield  number  every  grain, 

Or  every  mote  that  in  the  sunshine  hops, 

May  count  my  sighs  and  number  all  my  drops. 

Tell  him,  the  countless  steps  that  thou  dost  trace, 

That  once  a  day  thy  spouse  thou  mayst  embrace  ; 

And  when  thou  canst  not  treat  by  loving  mouth, 

Thy  rays  afar,  salute  her  from  the  south. 

But  for  one  month  I  see  no  day  (poor  soul) 

Like  those  far  situate  under  the  pole, 

Which  day  by  day  long  wait  for  thy  arise, 

O  how  they  joy  when  thou  dost  light  the  skies. 

O  Phoebus,  hadst  thou  but  thus  long  from  thine 

Restrain'd  the  beams  of  thy  beloved  shine, 

At  thy  return,  if  so  thou  couldst  or  durst, 

Behold  a  Chaos  blacker  than  the  first. 

Tell  him  here  's  worse  than  a  confused  matter, 

His  little  world  's  a  fathom  under  water, 

Naught  but  the  fervor  of  his  ardent  beams 

Hath  power  to  dry  the  torrent  of  these  streams. 

Tell  him  I  would  say  more,  but  cannot  well, 

Opressed  minds-  abruptest  tales  do  tell. 

Now  post  with  double  speed,  mark  what  I  say, 

By  all  our  loves  conjure  him  not  to  stay. 


280  ANNE    BRADSTREET. 

CONTEMPLATIONS. 

[From  the  Edition  of   1678.] 

Some  time  now.  past  in  the  autumnal  tide, 

When  Phoebus  wanted  but  one  hour  to  bed, 
The  trees  all  richly  clad,  yet  void  of  pride, 

Were  gilded  o'er  by  his  rich  golden  head. 
Their  leaves  and  fruits  seem'd  painted,  but  was  true 
Of  green,  of  red,  of  yellow,  mixed  hue, 
Rapt  were  my  senses  at  this  delectable  view. 

I  wist  not  what  to  wish,  yet  sure,  thought  I, 

If  so  much  excellence  abide  below, 
How  excellent  is  He  that  dwells  on  high  ! 

Whose  power  and  beauty  by  his  works  we  know  ; 
Sure  he  is  goodness,  wisdom,  glory,  light, 
That  hath  this  underworld  so  richly  dight : 
More  heaven  than  earth  was  here,  no  winter  and  no 
night. 

Then  on  a  stately  oak  I  cast  mine  eye, 

Whose  ruffling  top  the  clouds  seem'd  to  aspire  ; 

How  long  since  thou  wast  in  thine  infancy  ? 

Thy  strength,  and  stature,  more  thy  years  admire ; 

Hath  hundred  winters  past  since  thou  wast  born, 

Or  thousand  since  thou  brakest  thy  shell  of  horn  ? 

If  so,  all  these  as  naught  eternity  doth  scorn. 

Then  higher  on  the  glistering  sun  I  gaz'd, 
Whose  beams  was  shaded  by  the  leavie  tree ; 

The  more  I  look'd,  the  more  I  grew  amaz'd, 
And  softly  said,  What  glory  's  like  to  thee? 


CONTEMPLATIONS.  28 1 

Soul  of  this  world,  this  universe's  eye, 
No  wonder,  some  made  thee  a  deity  : 
Had  I  not  better  known  (alas),  the  same  had  I. 

Thou  as  a  bridegroom  from  thy  chamber  rushes, 
And,  as  a  strong  man,  joys  to  run  a  race  ; 

The  morn  doth  usher  thee,  with  smiles  and  blushes, 
The  earth  reflects  her  glances  in  thy  face. 

Birds,  insects,  animals  with  vegetive, 

Thy  heart  from  death  and  dulness  doth  revive  . 

And  in  the  darksome  womb  of  fruitful  nature  dive. 

Thy  swift  annual,  and  diurnal  course, 

Thy  daily  straight,  and  yearly  oblique  path, 

Thy  pleasing  fervor,  and  thy  scorching  force, 
All  mortals  here  the  feeling  knowledge  hath. 

Thy  presence  makes  it  day,  thy  absence  night, 

Quaternal  seasons  caused  by  thy  might  : 

Hail  creature,  full  of  sweetness,  beauty  and  delight. 

Art  thou  so  full  of  glory,  that  no  eye 

Hath  strength,  thy  shining  rays  once  to  behold  ? 
And  is  thy  splendid  throne  erect  so  high, 

As  to  approach  it,  can  no  earthly  mould  ? 
How  full  of  glory  then  must  thy  Creator  be, 
Who  gave  this  bright  light  lustre  unto  thee  ! 
Admir'd,  ador'd  forever,  be  that  Majesty. 

Silent,  alone,  where  none  or  saw  or  heard, 
In  pathless  paths  I  led  my  wandering  feet ; 

My  humble  eyes  to  lofty  skies  I  reared, 

To  sing  some  song  my  mazed  Muse  thought  meet. 


282  ANNE    BRADSTREET. 

My  great  Creator  I  would  magnify- 
That  nature  had  thus  decked  liberally  ; 
But  ah,  and  ah  again,  my  imbecillity  ! 

I  heard  the  merry  grasshopper  then  sing, 
The  black-clad  cricket  bear  a  second  part, 

They  kept  one  tune,  and  played  on  the  same  string, 
Seeming  to  glory  in  their  little  art. 

Shall  creatures  abject  thus  their  voices  raise  ? 

And  in  their  kind  resound  their  Maker's  praise  : 

Whilst  I,  as  mute,  can  warble  forth  no  higher  lays. 

When  I  behold  the  heavens  as  in  their  prime, 

And  then  the  earth  (though  old)  still  clad  in  green, 

The  stones  and  trees,  insensible  of  time, 

Nor  age  nor  wrinkle  on  their  front  are  seen  ; 

If  winter  come,  and  greenness  then  do  fade, 

A  Spring  returns,  and  they  more  youthful  made  ; 

But  Man  grows  old,  lies  down,  remains  where  once 
he  's  laid. 

By  birth  more  noble  than  those  creatures  all, 
Yet  seems  by  nature  and  by  custom  curs' d, 

No  sooner  born,  but  grief  and  care  makes  fall 
That  state  obliterate  he  had  at  first  : 

Nor  youth,  nor  strength,  nor  wisdom  spring  again, 

Nor  habitations  long  their  names  retain, 

But  in  oblivion  to  the  final  day  remain. 

Shall  I  then  praise  the  heavens,  the  trees,  the  earth, 
Because  their  beauty  and  their  strength  last  longer  ? 

Shall  I  wish  there  or  never  to  had  birth, 

Because  they  're  bigger  and  their  bodies  stronger? 


CONTEMPLATIONS.  283 

Nay,  they  shall  darken,  perish,  fade,  and  die, 
And  when  unmade  so  ever  shall  they  lie  ; 
But  man  was  made  for  endless  immortality. 

*  *  *  *  *  *  * 

The  mariner  that  on  smooth  waves  doth  glide 

Sings  merrily,  and  steers  his  bark  with  ease, 
As  if  he  had  command  of  wind  and  tide, 

And  now  become  great  master  of  the  seas  ; 
But  suddenly  a  storm  spoils  all  the  sport, 
And   makes  him  long  for  a  more  quiet  port, 
Which  'gainst  all  adverse  winds  may  serve  for  fort. 

So  he  that  faileth  in  this  world  of  pleasure, 
Feeding  on  sweets,  that  never  bit  of  the  sour, 

That  's  full  of  friends,  of  honor,  and  of  treasure, 
Fond  fool,  he  takes  this  earth  e'en  for  heaven's  bower. 

But  sad  affliction  comes,  and  makes  him  see 

Here  's  neither  honor,  wealth,  nor  safety  ; 

Only  above  is  found  all  with  security. 

O  Time,  the  fatal  wrack  of  mortal  things, 
That  draws  oblivion's  curtains  over  kings, 

Their  sumptuous  monuments,  men  know  them  not, 
Their  names  without  a  record  are  forgot, 

Their  parts,  their  ports,  their  pomp  's  all  laid  in  th' 
dust, 

Nor  wit  nor  gold,  nor  buildings  'scape  time's  rust  ; 

But  he  whose  name  is  grav'd  in  the  white  stone 

Shall  last  and  shine  when  all  of  these  are  gone. 


284  ANNE    BRADSTREET. 

THE  AUTHOR  TO  HER  BOOK. 

Thou  ill-formed  offspring  of  my  feeble  brain, 

Who  after  birth  didst  by  my  side  remain 

Till  snatched  from  thence  by  friends  less  wise  than  true 

Who  thee  abroad  exposed  to  public  view, 

Made  thee,  in  rags,  halting,  to  the  press  to  trudge, 

Where  errors  were  not  lessened,  all  may  judge, 

At  thy  return  my  blushing  was  not  small, 

My  rambling  brat  —  in   print  —  should   mother  call. 

I  cast  thee  by  as  one  unfit  for  light, 

Thy  visage  was  so  irksome  in  my  sight  ;  ' 

Yet  being  mine  own,  at  length  affection  would 

Thy  blemishes  amend,  if  so  I  could. 

I  washed  thy  face,  but  more  defects  I  saw, 

And  rubbing  off  a  spot  still  made  a  flaw. 

I  stretched  thy  joints  to  make  thee  even  feet, 

Yet  still  thou  run'st  more  hobbling  than  is  meet. 

In  better  dress  to  trim  thee  was  my  mind, 

But  naught  save  homespun  cloth  i'    th'  house  I  find. 

In  this  array  'mongst  vulgars  mayst  thou  roam, 

In  critics'  hands  beware  thou  dost  not  come, 

And  take  thy  way  where  yet  thou  art  not  known. 

If  for  thy  father  asked,  say  thou  hadst  none  ; 

And  for  thy  mother,  she,  alas,  is  poor, 

Which  caused  her  thus  to  send  thee  out  of  door. 


[From   "Prose  and  Verse,"  Addressed  "To  My 
Dear  Children."      First   Printed  in  "1 867.] 

In  a  long  fit  of  sickness  which   I  had  on  my  bed   I 
often  communed  with  my  heart,  and  made  my  sup- 


RESTORATION  OF  DEAR  HUSBAND.     285 

plication  to  the  Most  High,  who  set  me  free  from 
that  affliction. 

But  as  I  grew  up  to  be  about  fourteen  or  fifteen  I 
found  my  heart  more  carnal,  and,  sitting  loose  from 
God,  vanity  and  the  follies  of  youth  take  hold  of  me. 

About  sixteen  the  Lord  laid  his  hand  sore  upon 
me  and  smote  me  with  the  small-pox.  When  I  was 
in  my  affliction,  I  besought  the  Lord,  and  confessed 
my  pride  and  vanity,  and  he  was  entreated  of  me 
and  again  restored  me.  But  I  rendered  not  to  him 
according  to  the  benefit  received. 

After  a  short  time  I  changed  my  condition  and  was 
married,  and  came  into  this  country,  where  I  found  a 
new  world  and  new  manners,  at  which  my  heart  rose. 
But  after  I  was  convinced  it  was  the  way  of  God,  I 
submitted  to  it  and  was  joined  to  the  church  at  Boston. 

FOR  THE  RESTORATION  OF  MY  DEAR 
HUSBAND  FROM  A  BURNING  AGUE, 
JUNE,  1661. 

[From  the  Same.] 

When  fears  and  sorrows  me  beset, 

Then  didst  thou  rid  me  out  ; 
When  heart  did  faint  and  spirits  quail, 

Thou  comforts  me  about. 

Thou  rais'st  him  up  I  feared  to  lose, 

Regav'st  me  him  again  ; 
Distempers  thou  didst  chase  away, 

With  strength  didst  him  sustain. 


286  ANNE    BRADSTREET. 

My  thankful  heart,  with  pen  record 
The  goodness  of  thy  God  : 

Let  thy  obedience  testify 
He  taught  thee  by  his  rod, 

And  with  his  staff  did  thee  support, 
That  thou  by  both  mayst  learn, 

And  'twixt  the  good  and  evil  way 
At  last  thou  might' st  discern. 

Praises  to  him  who  hath  not  left 

My  soul  as  destitute, 
Nor  turned  his  ear  away  from  me, 

But  granted  hath  my  suit. 


MEDITATIONS    DIVINE   AND    MORAL. 
[First  printed  in   1867.] 

IV.  A  ship  that  bears  much  sail,  and  little  or  no 
ballast,  is  easily  overset  ;  and  that  man,  whose  head 
hath  great  abilities,  and  his  heart  little  or  no  grace, 
is  in  danger  of  foundering.    .    .    . 

X.  Diverse  children  have  their  different  natures  : 
some  are  like  flesh  which  nothing  but  salt  will  keep 
from  putrefaction  ;  some  again  like  tender  fruits  that  are 
best  preserved  with  sugar.  Those  parents  are  wise  that 
can  fit  their  nurture  according  to  their  nature.    .    .    . 

LXVIII.  The  gifts  that  God  bestows  on  the  sons 
of  men,  are  not  only  abused,  but  most  commonly  em- 
ployed for  a  clean  contrary  end  than  that  which  they 


MEDITATIONS.  287 

were  given  for  ;  as  health,  wealth,  and  honor,  which 
might  be  so  many  steps  to  draw  men  to  God  in  consid- 
eration of  his  bounty  towards  them,  but  have  driven 
them  the  further  from  him,  that  they  are  ready  to  say, 
We  are  lords,  we  will  come  no  more  at  thee.  If  out- 
ward blessings  be  not  as  wings  to  help  us  mount  up- 
wards, they  will  certainly  prove  clogs  and  weights 
that  will  pull  us  lower  downward. 


COTTON    MATHER 
From  the  painting  by  R.  Pelham 


Colonial  Prose  and  Poetry 


EDITED    BY 

WILLIAM    P.    TRENT 

AND 

BENJAMIN   W.    WELLS 


THE 
BEGINNINGS    OF   AMERICANISM 

1650-1710 


NEW    YORK 

THOMAS    Y.    CROWELL   CO. 

PUBLISHERS 


iIlOlUw/ 


Copyright,  1901,  1903, 
BY  THOMAS  Y.   CROWELL   &  CO. 


CONTENTS 

- 

PAGE 

Edward  Johnson                             . 

I 

John  Eliot 

20 

Michael  Wigglesworth 

47 

John  Josselyn  .          .          , 

61 

Daniel  Gookin           .          , 

77 

Thomas  Wheeler 

99 

Peter  Folger     . 

1 11 

William  Penn            .          , 

"5 

Daniel  Denton 

121 

George  Alsop  . 

129 

Bacon's  Rebellion 

146 

William  Hubbard 

,     181 

Mary  Rowlandson     . 

■      193 

Urian  Oakes    . 

205 

Increase  Mather        • 

.     215 

Cotton  Mather 

.     231 

Samuel  Sewall 

.     286 

Sarah  Kemble  Knight 

■     327 

Robert  Beverly 

.      347 

INTRODUCTION. 

This  second  volume  carries  the  presentation  of 
American  life  and  thought  as  expressed  in  its  colonial 
literature  through  the  first  decade  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  It  seemed  best  to  include  in  the  general 
view  of  colonial  literary  development  given  in  the 
introduction  to  the  former  volume  many  of  the  writers 
who  are  presented  here,  since  the  logical  division  of 
colonial  literature  is  into  two  periods,  while  considera- 
tions of  a  practical  character  render  a  division  into 
three  volumes  more  desirable. 

The  year  1688,  the  date  chosen  for  the  close  of 
the  first  period,  corresponds  closely  with  1676  and 
the  Rebellion  of  Bacon  in  political  history.  The 
former  inaugurated  the  change  which  the  latter  year 
presaged,  and  it  is  at  least  a  curious  coincidence  that 
this  should  be  separated  by  exactly  a  century  from  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  of  which  it  held  the 
presage  and  the  germ.  Sixteen  hundred  and  seventy- 
six  was  also  a  year  of  import  alike  in  New  England 
and  in  Virginia.  It,  too,  witnessed  an  outbreak 
against  autocratic  misrule,  though  the  storm  centre 
was  in  Virginia  rather  than  in  the  Puritan  Colonies, 
and  the  time  was  not  yet  ripe  for  patriotic  insur- 
rection. The  same  year  in  New  England  was  the 
crisis  of  King  Philip's  War.  So,  as  the  chief  his- 
torian of  our  colonial    literature,    the  late  Professor 


VI  INTRODUCTION. 

Moses  Coit  Tyler,  has  observed,  for  those  two  central 
English  communities  that  year  established  two  great 
facts  :  first,  that  the  English  colonists  already  felt 
themselves  so  individualized  in  their  national  life  as  to 
be  capable  of  resisting  the  authority  of  England  ;  and, 
secondly,  that  they  had  so  developed  their  colonial 
existence  as  to  be  able  to  put  down  any  combination 
of  Indians  that  might  be  formed  against  them.  It 
was  as  evident  to  them,  from  that  year  onward,  as  it 
is  to  us  to-day,  not  merely  that  their  settlement  was  safe 
from  annihilation  through  any  outward  attack,  but  also, 
and  hardly  less  evident,  at  least  to  the  thoughtful,  that 
they  were  drifting  apart  from  the  mother  country  in 
their  modes  of  thought  and  ideals  of  democracy. 

These  facts,  quite  evident  to  the  student  of  the 
politics  of  1676,  soon  become  evident  to  the  student 
of  literature  also.  They  are  unmistakable  in  Sewall 
and  Beverly.  The  whole  spirit  of  Sarah  Kemble 
Knight  is  that  of  an  independent  American  woman 
who  to-day  would  be  president  of  a  woman's  club. 
There  are  foreshadowings  of  the  new  spirit,  too,  in 
earlier  authors,  more  especially  in  Johnson,  and 
Gookin,  and  Folger,  though  doubtless  these  elements 
are  more  obvious  to  us,  who  view  them  in  the  light 
of  history,  than  they  were  to  the  contemporaries  of 
those  writers,  who,  with  the  people  for  whom  they 
wrote,  were  building  better  than  they  knew  for  the 
future  of  America. 

This  gradual  transformation  of  our  literature  may 
be  noticed  in  almost  every  department  of  it,  but 
poetry  and  theology,  being  by  their  nature  artificial 
forms  of  literary  expression,  had  least  of  the  new 
spirit,    and   with   these   we    may  begin   our   general 


INTRODUCTION.  vil 

survey.  The  historians,  diarists,  chroniclers,  with 
social  reformers  such  as  Gookin,  lived  more  in  the 
press  of  history  in  the  making,  and  in  these  we  shall 
find,  therefore,  most  that  is  distinctively  American. 
It  is  not  difficult  to  imagine  an  Increase  or  a  Cotton 
Mather,  a  Wigglesworth  or  an  Oakes  in  England, 
even  in  the  days  of  James  or  of  Mary,  but  we  should 
hardly  find  there  the  like  of  Gookin,  and  we  should 
probably  have  to  descend  considerably  beyond  the  days 
of  Anne  before  we  should  find  the  like  of  Judge  Sewall 
or  of  Sarah  Knight. 

Among  the  poets  we  have  chosen  Urian  Oakes  as 
typical  of  the  Fantastic  School,  or,  as  Dr.  Johnson 
called  it,  the  Metaphysical  School.  To  his  con- 
temporary, Increase  Mather,  he  seemed  "one  of  the 
greatest  lights  that  ever  shone  in  this  part  of  the 
world,  or  that  is  ever  likely  to  arise  on  this  horizon." 
Indeed,  there  have  been  those,  even  in  our  more  criti- 
cal time,  to  whom  this  product  of  our  "autochtho- 
nous culture"  has  seemed  to  exhibit  "splendid  literary 
capacity,"  to  be  at  once  "affluent,  stately,  pathetic, 
beautiful,  and  strong."  But  in  the  words  of  Urian 
Oakes  himself,  "daring  hyperboles  have  here  no 
place,"  and  the  reader  is  likely  to  perceive  in  his 
verse  no  high  reach  of  original  genius.  Wigglesworth, 
on  the  other  hand,  was  distinctively  original.  There 
is  little  or  nothing  like  The  Day  of  Doom  in  literature, 
nor  like  to  be,  and  in  its  kind  it  is  so  good  that  its 
jingling  verses  cling  to  the  mind  even  of  those  to 
whom  their  conceptions  are  most  foreign,  quaint,  or 
even  ludicrous.  They  are  thoroughly  genuine,  —  the 
product  of  study,  indeed,  but  of  study  that  has  trans- 
lated  itself  into  the   life  of  the  soul  with  a  realistic 


vill  INTRODUCTION. 

vision  that  may  be  grotesque  but  is  none  the  less  ter- 
rible. No  other  colonial  book  was  more  popular  in 
its  own  day,  and  very  few  are  more  worthy  to  be  read 
in  our  own,  for  the  picture  afforded  of  the  ideals 
by  which  and  through  which  the  more  strenuous  of 
our  American  ancestors  wrought  out  their  contribu- 
tion to  the  national  character  in  striving  for  individual 
salvation. 

But  we  should  get  a  false  idea,  even  of  the  poetry 
of  this  period,  if  we  were  to  seek  its  representatives 
merely  in  the  verse-writers  of  whom  Oakes  and 
Wigglesworth  are  typical.  Neither  classical  culture 
nor  intensity  of  religious  conviction  could  keep  even 
poets  from  the  pressing  problems  of  daily  life,  and  so 
the  crude  poem  of  Folger  is  here  to  remind  us  that  for 
these  colonists,  as  for  later  reformers,  the  truth  of 
conviction  lay  in  the  application  of  it ;  that  Christian- 
ity was  not  only  a  scheme  of  salvation  to  be  studied 
in  Wigglesworth' s  doggerel  verse,  but  a  mode  of  life 
to  be  practised  toward  the  Indians  and  even  toward 
those  fellow-Christians  who,  having  separated  from 
the  Separatists,  had  become  to  them  anathema.  In 
Folger  we  have  one  of  the  first  efforts  to  turn  poetry 
to  the  use  of  politics  in  our  American  life.  He  was 
destined  later  to  find  many  imitators.  In  general, 
however,  it  is  clear  that  the  poetry  represented  in  this 
volume  is  a  survival  of  a  not  very  vigorous  past.  It 
is  not  here  that  we  are  to  look,  in  the  first  instance  at 
least,  for  literature  that  shall  be  interpretative  of  life. 

Nor  shall  we  find  it  any  longer  even  in  the  theolo- 
gians. These  bore  an  important  part  in  our  first  vol- 
ume; now  they  are  relegated  to  a  minor  place.  But 
four  of  the  prose  writers  from  whom  this  volume  con- 


INTRODUCTION.  ix 

tains  selections  were  clergymen,  and  but  two  of  these, 
the  Mathers,  were  very  typical  of  their  class.  The 
contrast  between  this  period  and  the  preceding  is  so 
great  as  to  be  surprising  until  we  recognize  in  it 
the  natural  result  of  the  development  of  independent 
colonial,  life.  Our  prose  writers  are  still  in  the  main 
New  Englanders,  either  by  birth  or  choice.  The 
biographers  of  Bacon,  and  Denton,  Alsop,  Penn,  and 
Beverly  are  the  only  exceptions  that  find  place  in 
this  volume.  All  the  more  marked  then  is  the  change 
of  temper  that  has  come  over  New  England  since 
King  Philip's  War.  At  the  very  outset  we  find  a 
prototype  of  the  new  temper  in  Edward  Johnson, 
that  sturdily  characteristic  Puritan,  whose  faith  in 
wonder-working  providences  was  accompanied  by  a 
zeal  to  cooperate  in  them,  alike  in  ecclesiastical  and  in 
civic  life.  He  seems  to  move  in  the  constant  thought 
of  an  overruling  Providence,  yet  to  lose  nothing  of 
his  self-dependence,  and  his  attitude  to  his  God  finds 
a  sort  of  counterpart  in  that  assurance  which  he  was 
selected  to  present  to  the  English  king  "of  loyalty 
with  a  determination  to  maintain  all  rights  and  priv- 
ileges." The  Apostolic  Eliot  too  was  a  practical 
statesman  and  man  of  action,  as  well  as  an  indefati- 
gable missionary  and  somewhat  credulous  linguist,  — 
sincere,  sweet,  winning,  lovable,  full  of  the  dauntless 
confidence  of  faith,  yet  full,  too,  of  a  sort  of  canny 
wisdom  in  which  we  recognize  incipient  New  Eng- 
land. The  Mathers  belong  rather  in  temper  to  a 
generation  whose  passing  away  they  witnessed.  They 
were  of  the  Brahmin  caste,  hereditary  clergymen  and 
hierarchs,  conservatives  to  the  core,  lauding  old  times 
and  bewailing  the  new,  piling  up  literary  monuments 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

of  indefatigable  industry  for  the  admiration,  if  not  the 
edification,  of  their  successors,  —  prodigious  in  their 
learning,  philanthropic  in  their  spirit,  but  sympathiz- 
ing in  their  nature  with  that  which  was  reactionary, 
ascetic,  and  pedantic,  in  a  generation  that  was  already 
beginning  to  feel  the  intoxication  of  liberty.  The 
very  bulk  of  the  work  of  the  Mathers  makes  them 
loom  large  in  any  literary  prospect  of  this  period,  yet 
their  importance  is  rather  as  illustrative  of  the  past 
than  as  indicative  of  what  to  them  was  present  or 
future.  It  is  not  without  interest,  however,  to  find 
in  Cotton  Mather  a  municipal  reformer  contending 
against  very  much  the  same  evils  as  those  that  vex 
the  American  cities  of  to-day,  and  seeking  to  meet 
them  with  the  same  well-meant  exaggeration  of  ex- 
hortation, and  the  same  inability  to  adapt  inherited 
standards  to  changing  social  ideals.  This  same  repre- 
sentative of  fantastic  pedantry  was  also,  in  his  advocacy 
of  the  application  of  the  principle  of  collective  activity 
to  the  problems  of  moral  reform,  the  precursor  by  a 
century  and  a  half  of  another  Boston  clergyman,  Dr. 
Edward  Everett  Hale,  and  he  was  one  of  the  most 
resolute  advocates  of  inoculation  for  smallpox.  And 
Increase  Mather  representing  his  colony  in  England 
was  a  forerunner  of  Franklin. 

Turning  now  to  that  more  numerous  and  more  in- 
teresting group  of  writers  who  deal  with  colonial  life 
as  they  saw  it,  whether  as  annalists  such  as  Hubbard 
and  Gookin,  as  descriptive  writers  like  Denton  and 
Alsop,  as  diarists  like  Sewall  and  Knight,  as  genially 
credulous  travellers  like  Josselyn,  or  as  aristocrats  of 
colonial  democracy  like  Penn,  we  find  ourselves  im- 
mediately in  a  more  congenial  atmosphere.      Already 


INTRODUCTION.  XI 

in  Josselyn  there  is  a  breezy  frankness  of  criticism,  a 
sense  of  humor,  that  is  refreshingly  human,  a  curiosity 
quite  worthy  of  the  Yankee  that  he  was  not,  as  though 
in  his  brief  sojourn  he  had  been  inoculated  with  the 
virus  of  New  England,  and  with  something  of  that 
credulity  that  is  apt  to  go  with  "smartness."  This 
distinctively  new  note  is  caught  most  clearly  in  our 
extract  dealing  with  the  "  Men  of  Maine."  An- 
other New  England  trait,  the  minding  of  other 
people's  business  for  their  good,  found  one  of  its  first 
noteworthy  representatives  in  Daniel  Gookin,  English 
by  birth,  Puritan  in  feeling,  but  sufficiently  catholic  in 
sympathy  to  cover  effectively  with  the  mantle  of  his 
charity,  not  merely  the  fugitive  English  regicides, 
perhaps  no  very  parlous  task  in  the  New  England  of 
that  day,  but  even,  what  was  a  far  more  serious  offence 
in  the  eyes  of  his  fellow-countrymen,  those  Christian 
Indians  of  whom  he  had  been  made  superintendent, 
and  of  whose  doings  and  sufferings  he  was  the  first 
chronicler,  sacrificing,  as  many  a  New  Englander  has 
done  since,  popularity  and  preferment  to  the  impera- 
tive demands  of  his  social  conscience. 

With  Indians,  but  in  quite  another  spirit,  deal  also 
those  other  New  Englanders,  Wheeler  and  Hubbard. 
The  latter  was  a  clergyman,  which  is  somewhat  sig- 
nificant, as  on  the  whole,  although  he  does  appear 
occasionally  in  his  clerical  capacity,  he  stands  rather 
for  lay  activities,  having  been  a  paid  historiographer, 
and  noted  among  his  admiring  fellow-colonists  as  an 
"  elegant  writer."  His  popular  account  of  the  Ind- 
ian Wars  displays  little  of  the  charitable  spirit  of 
Gookin  ;  it  betrays  the  Puritan,  but  hardly  the  clergy- 
man.     It  might  easily  have  been  the  work  of  such  a 


Xll  INTRODUCTION. 

layman  as  Johnson,  but  hardly  the  work  of  a  clerical 
contemporary  of  that  New  England  worthy. 

Mary  Rowlandson's  Diary  stands  quite  apart  among 
these  historical  writings,  as  a  poignant  story  of  per- 
sonal suffering,  told  with  a  detailed  simplicity  that 
makes  it  a  real  work  of  primitive,  unconscious,  and, 
it  must  be  confessed,  uncharming  art.  The  two 
other  New  England  Diarists  embraced  in  this  volume 
of  extracts,  Judge  Sewall  and  Mrs.  Knight,  are  of 
quite  different  character,  both  from  Mrs.  Rowlandson 
and  from  one  another.  The  former's  voluminous 
notations  appear  to  have  been  dictated  in  part  by  the 
not  uncommon,  though  seldom  justified,  assumption 
that  as  nothing  human  was  foreign  to  his  sympathies, 
so  nothing  that  interested  him  could  fail  to  interest 
others.  In  part  it  was  no  doubt  a  desire  to  preserve, 
for  his  own  use,  a  record  of  daily  happenings  and 
thoughts.  In  part  it  appears  to  have  been  a  sort  of 
confessional  to  which  he  confided  the  records  of  his 
moral  auto- stethoscope.  Perhaps  no  other  produc- 
tion in  the  whole  range  of  New  England's  colonial 
literature  contains  more  of  real  value  or  more  of  curious 
interest  than  this  work,  wholly  lacking  as  it  is,  for  the 
main,  in  continuity,  proportion,  or  constructive  unity 
of  any  kind. 

Last  of  New  Englanders,  and  latest  in  time  of  the 
writers  included  in  this  volume,  is  Sarah  Kemble 
Knight,  whose  story  of  her  venturesome  journey  from 
Boston  to  New  York  in  the  year  1704  has  many  of 
those  qualities  of  literary  excellence  that  Sewall' s 
Diary  conspicuously  lacks,  and  makes  us  understand 
her  contemporary  reputation  as  a  teacher  of  composi- 
tion.     She  is  sprightly,  graphic,   and  tells  us   more 


INTRODUCTION.  Xlll 

than  we  should  otherwise  know  or  guess  of  the 
customs  of  colonial  life  outside  of  the  pulpit,  the 
assembly  hall,  and  the  domestic  fireside.  She  must 
have  had  some  power  of  imparting  the  genial  liveli- 
ness of  her  style,  for  she  had  the  honor  of  training 
in  the  rudiments  of  English  that  past  master  among 
eighteenth  century  writers,  Benjamin  Franklin. 

Turning  now  to  the  South  we  find  that  the  dis- 
parity between  the  literary  output  here  and  in  New 
England  is  hardly  less  than  in  the  former  volume,  and, 
indeed,  if  the  total  bulk  of  the  literature  is  regarded, 
the  difference  is  even  greater  than  our  extracts  indicate. 
Yet,  in  some  respects  the  smaller  output  is  the  more 
significant.  What  is  most  typical  in  the  literature  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  what  brings  American  litera- 
ture and  thought  in  closest  touch  with  the  world 
movement  of  that  period,  is  less  the  writing  that  has 
its  roots  in  New  England  culture  than  that  which 
derives  itself  from  the  life  of  the  Middle  and  Southern 
colonies.  Franklin  here  is  typical,  and  Franklin, 
though  a  New  Englander  by  birth  and  early  educa- 
tion, has  in  him  more  of  Penn  and  Alsop,  Denton 
and  Beverly,  than  he  has  of  Hooker  or  Wigglesworth, 
or  even  of  Sewall  or  Gookin.  The  literature  of  the 
Middle  Colonies  is  less  serious,  less  intense,  less  stimu- 
lating than  that  of  New  England.  It  has  in  it  far 
less  of  learning,  but  it  is  in  more  sympathetic  touch 
with  the  amenities  of  life.  The  conventions  of  the 
ministerial  pulpit  are  no  longer  felt.  There  is  a  lighter 
touch  natural  to  men  whose  ideals  are  secular  rather 
than  religious  ;  and  just  over  the  border  line  of  this 
second  volume  we  shall  meet  in  Col.  Wm.  Byrd  of 
Virginia  a  writer  and  a  personage  who  faintly  suggests 


XIV  INTRODUCTION. 

Voltaire.  It  is  from  this  point  of  view  that  we  regret 
that  space  did  not  permit  quotations  from  Gabriel 
Thomas's  sprightly  account  of  West  New  Jersey  and 
Pennsylvania,  but  the  latter  colony  got  more  perhaps 
of  its  impress  from  the  character  if  not  from  the  writ- 
ing of  Penn.  It  is  indeed  around  Philadelphia  that 
for  the  next  half  century  interest  centres  in  the 
literary  evolution  of  America,  not,  of  course,  for  the 
bulk  of  its  performance,  but  for  its  typical  character 
and  the  witness  that  it  bears  to  a  more  balanced  and 
in  a  sense  a  wider  culture  —  the  culture  of  toleration 
and  secularism. 


EDWARD   JOHNSON. 

Captain  Edward  Johnson,  author  of  the  rambling 
but  sturdy  and  characteristically  Puritan  "  Wonder- 
Working  Providence  of  Zion's  Saviour  in  New 
England,"  was  born  at  Heme  Hill,  Kent,  England, 
in  1599,  and  died  at  Woburn,  Massachusetts,  April 
23,  1672.  It  is  thought  that  he  came  to  New  Eng- 
land with  Winthrop,  in  1630,  and  certain  that  he 
took  an  active  part  in  organizing  the  church  and  the 
town  of  Woburn,  in  1642.  He  held  public  office 
almost  continuously  till  his  death,  was  town  represen- 
tative, recorder,  speaker,  colonial  commissioner, 
and  something  of  a  soldier.  All  that  can  be  learned 
of  him  is  industriously  gathered  in  the  late  Wm.  F. 
Poole's  introduction  to  his  valuable  reprint  of  the 
"  Wonder-  Working  Providence"  (1867).  John- 
son seems  to  have  been  a  typical  Puritan  layman, 
bold,  resourceful,  and  stern,  with  a  sternness  that 
came  from  the  abiding  thought  of  the  immediate 
presence  of  a  somewhat  anthropomorphic  God.  His 
historical  treatise,  which  carries  the  story  of  Massa- 
chusetts through  the  year  1651,  three  years  before 
its  publication  in  London,  was  written  to  defend  the 
colony  against  unjust  criticisms,  and  was  based  on 
first-hand  information.  Unfortunately,  the  author 
was  very  uncritical,  and  while  we  cannot  but  admire 
his  strenuously  eulogistic  tone  when  he  writes  of  the 


2  EDWARD   JOHNSON. 

great  Puritan  leaders  and  their  work,  we  are  obliged 
to  smile  at  the  extravagant  crudity  of  his  style,  upon 
which  he  evidently  expended  much  labor.  His 
attempts  at  verse  are  peculiarly  distressing.  But 
when  all  is  said,  he  is  very  interesting,  and  much  is  to 
be  pardoned  to  so  sturdy  a  patriot. 

Of  the   First  Preparation  of  the   Merchant 
Adventurers  in  the  Massachusetts. 

[from  the  *s  wonder-working  providence,"   lon- 
don, 1654.     chap.  ix.] 

.  .  .  At  the  place  of  their  abode  they  began  to 
build  a  Town,  which  is  called  Salem,  after  some 
little  space  of  time  having  made  trial  of  the  sordid 
spirits  of  the  neighboring  Indians,  the  most  bold 
among  them  began  to  gather  to  divers  places,  which 
they  began  to  take  up  for  their  own;  those  that  were 
sent  over  servants,  having  itching  desires  after  novel- 
ties, found  a  readier  way  to  make  an  end  of  their 
masters'  provisions,  than  [hey  could  find  means  to 
get  more.  They  that  came  over  their  own  men  had 
but  little  left  to  feed  on,  and  most  began  to  repent 
when  their  strong  beer  and  full  cups  ran  as  small  as 
water  in  a  large  land,  but  little  corn,  and  the  poor 
Indians  so  far  from  relieving  them,  that  they  were 
forced  to  lengthen  out  their  own  food  with  acorns, 
and  that  which  added  to  their  present  distracted 
thoughts,  the  ditch  between  England  and  their  now 
place  of  abode  was  so  wide,  that  they  could  not  leap 
over  with  a  lope-staff,  yet  some  delighting  their  eye 
with   the  rarity   of  things   present,  and   feeding  their 


WONDER-WORKING    PROVIDENCE.        3 

fancies  with  new  discoveries  at  the  Spring's  approach, 
they  made  shift  to  rub  out  the  Winter's  cold  by  the 
fire-side,  having  fuel  enough  growing  at  their  doors, 
turning  down  many  a  drop  of  the  bottle,  and  burn- 
ing tobacco  with  all  the  ease  they  could,  discoursing 
between  one  while  and  another,  of  the  great  progress 
they  would  make  after  the  Summer's-sun  had  changed 
the  earths  white  furr'd  gown  into  a  green  mantel. 


Of  the  Charges  expended  by  this  Poor  People, 
to  enjoy  Christ  in  his  Purity  of  his  Ordi- 
nances. 

[from  the  same.      chap,  xiii.] 

And  now  they  enter  the  ships,  should  they  have 
cast  up  what  it  would  have  cost  to  people  Nezv 
England  before  hand,  the  most  strongest  of  faith 
among  them  would  certainly  have  staggered  much, 
and  very  hardly  have  set  sail.  But  behold  and 
wonder  at  the  admirable  Acts  of  Christ,  here  it  is 
cast  up  to  thy  hand,  the  passage  of  the  persons  that 
peopled  New  England  cost  ninety-five  thousand 
pounds,  the  swine,  goats,  sheep,  neat  and  horse, 
cost  to  transport  twelve  thousand  pounds  besides  the 
price  they  cost,  getting  food  for  all  persons  for  the 
time  till  they  brought  the  woods  to  tillage  amounted 
unto  forty-five  thousand  pounds  ;  nails,  glass  and 
other  iron-work  for  their  meeting  houses,  and  other 
dwelling  houses,  before  they  could  raise  any  means 
in  the  country  to  purchase  them,  eighteen  thousand 
pounds.      Arms,  powder,  bullet  and   match,  together 


4  EDWARD   JOHNSON. 

with  their  great  artillery,  twenty-two  thousand 
pounds  :  the  whole  sum  amounts  unto  one  hundred 
ninety  two  thousand  pound,  beside  that  which  the 
Adventurers  laid  out  in  England,  which  was  a  small 
pittance  compared  with  this,  and  indeed  most  of 
those  that  cast  into  this  Bank  were  the  chief  Adven- 
turers. Neither  let  any  man  think  the  sum  above 
expended  did  defray  the  whole  charge  of  this  Army, 
which  amounts  to  above  as  much  more,  only  this  sum 
lies  still  in  bank,  and  the  other  they  have  had  the 
income  again.  This  therefore  is  chiefly  presented  to 
satisfy  such  as  think  New  England  men  have  been 
bad  husbands  in  managing  their  estates  ;  assuredly 
here  it  lies  in  bank,  put  out  to  the  greatest  advantage 
that  ever  any  hath  been  for  many  hundred  of  years 
before,  and  verily  although  in  casting  it  up  some 
hundred  may  be  miscounted  (for  the  Author  would 
not  willingly  exceed  in  any  respect)  but  to  be  sure 
Christ  stands  by  and  beholds  every  mite  that  (in  the 
obedience  of  faith)  is  cast  into  this  Treasury  :  but 
what  do  we  answering  men  ?  the  money  is  all 
Christ's,  and  certainly  he  will  take  it  well  that  [his] 
have  so  disposed  of  it  to  his  advantage ;  by  this 
means  he  hath  had  a  great  income  in  England  of  late, 
Prayers,  Tears  and  Praise  and  some  Reformation  ; 
Scotland  and  Ireland  have  met  with  much  profit  of 
this  Bank,  Virginia,  Bermodas  and  Barbados  have  had 
a  taste,  and  France  may  suddenly  meet  with  the  like. 
Therefore  repent  you  not,  you  that  have  cast  in  your 
coin,  but  tremble  all  you  that  with  a  penurious  hand 
have  not  only  cast  in,  such  as  are  taking  out  to  hoard 
it  up  in  your  napkins  ;  remember  Ananias  and 
Sapbirah,  how  darest  thou  do  it  in  these  days,  when 


THE    FOURTH    CHURCH    OF   CHRIST.     5 

the  Lord  hath  need  of  it?  Gentle  Reader,  make  use 
of  this  memorable  Providence  of  Christ  for  his  New 
E?igland  Churches,  where  had  this  poor  people  this 
great  sum  of  money  ?  the  mighty  Princes  of  the 
Earth  never  opened  their  coffers  for  them,  and  the 
generality  of  these  men  were  mean  and  poor  in 
the  things  of  this  life,  but  sure  it  is,  the  work  is 
done,  let  God  have  the  glory,  who  hath  now  given 
them  food  to  the  full,  and  some  to  spare  for  other 
Churches. 


[from  the  same.      chap,   xiv.] 

.  .  .  The  number  of  ships  that  transported  pas- 
sengers in  this  space  of  time  \to  1643}  as  ls  supposed 
is  298  [query  ig8  as  stated  in  XVI^\.  Men  women 
and  children  passing  over  this  wide  ocean  as  near  as 
at  present  can  be  gathered  is  also  supposed  to  be 
21,200  or  thereabout. 


Of  the   Fourth   Church  of  Christ  gathered  at 
Boston,  i  63  1 . 

[from  the  same.      chap,    xx.] 

After  some  little  space  of  time  the  Church  of 
Christ  at  Charles  Town  having  their  Sabbath  assem- 
blies oftenest  on  the  south  side  of  the  river,  agreed 
to  leave  the  people  on  that  side  to  themselves,  and 
to  provide  another  Pastor  for  Charles  Town,  which 
according  they  did.      So  that  the  fourth   Church   o\ 


6  EDWARD   JOHNSON. 

Christ  issued  out  of  Charles  Town,  and  was  seated 
at  Boston  being  the  Center  Town  and  Metropolis 
of  this  Wilderness  work  (but  you  must  not  imagine 
it  to  be  a  Metropolitan  Church)  environed  it  is  with 
the  brinish  floods,  saving  one  small  isthmus,  which 
gives  free  access  to  the  neighbor  towns  ;  by  land 
on  the  south  side,  on  the  north  west,  and  north 
east,  two  constant  ferries  are  kept  for  daily  traffic 
thereunto  ;  the  form  of  this  town  is  like  a  heart, 
naturally  situated  for  fortifications,  having  two  hills 
on  the  frontice  part  thereof  next  the  sea,  the  one 
well  fortified  on  the  superficies  thereof,  with  store  of 
great  artillery  well  mounted,  the  other  hath  a  very 
strong  battery  built  of  whole  timber,  and  filled  with 
earth,  at  the  descent  of  the  hill  in  the  extreme  point 
thereof;  betwixt  these  two  strong  arms  lies  a  large 
cave  or  bay,  on  which  the  chiefest  part  of  this  town 
is  built,  over-topped  with  a  third  hill;  all  three  like 
over-topping  towers  keep  a  constant  watch  to  fore-see 
the  approach  of  foreign  dangers,  being  furnished  with 
a  beacon  and  loud  babbling  guns  to  give  notice  by 
the  redoubled  echo  to  all  their  sister-towns.  The 
chief  edifice  of  this  citylike  town  is  crowded  on  the 
sea-banks  and  wharfed  out  with  great  industry  and 
cost,  the  buildings  beautiful  and  large,  some  fairly  set 
forth  with  brick,  tile,  stone  and  slate,  and  orderly 
placed  with  comely  streets,  whose  continual  enlarge- 
ment presages  some  sumptuous  city.  .  .  .  But  now 
behold  the  admirable  acts  of  Christ.  At  this  his 
peoples,  landing  the  hideous  thickets  in  this  place  were 
such  that  wolves  and  bears  nursed  up  their  young  from 
the  eyes  of  all  beholders,  in  those  very  places  where 
the  streets  are  full  of  girls  and  boys,  sporting  up  and 


GREAT   CHEERFULNESS.  7 

down,  with  a  continued  concourse  of  people.  Good 
store  of  shipping  is  here  yearly  built  and  some  very 
fair  ones.  Both  tar  and  masts  the  country  affords 
from  its  own  soil,  also  store  of  victual  both  for  their 
own  and  foreigner's  ships  who  resort  hither  for  that 
end.  The  town  is  the  very  mart  of  the  land,  French 
Portugal  s  and  Dutch  come  hither  for  traffic. 

Of   the  Great   Cheerfulness  of  Their    Soldiers 
in    Christ    in    and    under    the    Penuries    of  a 

Wilderness. 

[from  the  same.      chap,   xxiv.] 

This  year,  1631,  John  Winthrop,  Esq.,  was 
chosen  Governor,  pickt  out  for  the  work  by  the 
provident  hand  of  the  Most  High,  and  enabled  with 
gifts  accordingly  ;  then  all  the  folk  of  Christ,  who 
have  seen  his  face  and  been  partaker  of  the  same, 
remember  him  in  this  following  Meeter. 

Why  lea  vest  thou,  John,  thy  station,  in  Suffolk,  thy  own  soil  ? 
Christ  will  have  thee  a  pillar  be,  for  's  people  thou  must  toil. 
He  chang'd  thy  heart,  then  take  his  part   'gainst  prelates  proud 
invading 
His  Kingly  throne,  set  up  alone,  in  wilderness  there  shading 
His  little  flocks  from   Prelates'    knocks.      Twice  ten  years  rul'd 
thou  hast, 
With  civil  sword  at  Christ's  word,  and  eleven  times  been  trast, 
By  name  and  note,  with  people's  vote,  their  Governor  to  be  5 
Thy  means  hast  spent,  'twas  therefore  lent,  to  raise  this  work 
by  thee. 
Well  arm'd  and  strong  with  sword  among  Christ's  armies  marcheth 
he, 
Doth  valiant  praise,  and  weak  one  raise,  with  kind  benignity. 


8  EDWARD   JOHNSON. 

To  lead  the  van,  'gainst  Babylon,  doth  worthy  Winthrop  call  j 

Thy  Progeny  shall  battle  try,  when  Prelacy  shall  fall. 
With  fluent  tongue  thy  pen  doth  run,  in  learned  Latin  phrase, 
To  Swedes,   French,    Dutch,    thy  Neighbors,  which  thy  lady 
rhetoric  praise. 
Thy    bounty    feeds    Christ's    servants'    needs,    in    wilderness   of 
wants  j 
To  Indians  thou  Christ's  Gospel   now  'mongst   heathen  people 
plants. 
Yet    thou    poor    dust,    now    dead    and    must    to    rottenness    be 
brought, 
Till    Christ    restore   thee  glorious,   more  than  can  of  dust  be 
thought. 


Those  honored  persons  who  were  now  in  place  of 
Government,  having  the  propagation  of  the  Churches 
of  Christ  in  their  eye,  labored  by  all  means  to  make 
room  for  inhabitants,  knowing  well  that  where  the 
dead  carcass  is,  thither  will  the  eagles  resort.  But 
herein  they  were  much  opposed  by  certain  persons, 
whose  greedy  desire  for  land  much  hindered  the  work 
for  a  time,  as  indeed  all  such  persons  do  at  this  very 
day  —  and  let  such  take  notice  how  these  were  cured 
of  this  distemper.  Some  were  taken  away  by  death, 
and  then  to  be  sure  they  had  land  enough,  others 
fearing  poverty  and  famishment,  supposing  the  present 
scarcity  would  never  be  turned  into  plenty,  removed 
themselves  away,  and  so  never  beheld  the  great  good 
the  Lord  hath  done  for  his  people. 

But  the  valiant  of  the  Lord  waited  with  patience, 
and  in  the  miss  of  beer  supplied  themselves  with 
water,  even  the  most  honored,  as  well  as  others, 
contentedly  rejoicing  in  a  cup  of  cold  water,  blessing 
the  Lord  that  had  given  them  the  taste  of  that  living 


GREAT   CHEERFULNESS.  9 

water,  and  that  they  had  not  the  water  that  slacks 
the  thirst  of  their  natural  bodies,  given  them  by 
measure,  but  might  drink  to  the  full  ;  as  also  in  the 
absence  of  bread  they  feasted  themselves- with  fish. 
The  women  once  a  day,  as  the  tide  gave  way, 
resorted  to  the  mussels,  and  clambanks,  which  are  a 
fish  as  big  as  horse-mussels,  where  they  daily  gath- 
ered their  families'  food  with  much  heavenly  discourse 
of  the  provisions  Christ  had  formerly  made  for  many 
thousands  of  his  followers  in  the  wilderness.  Quoth 
one,  ««  My  husband  hath  travelled  as  far  as  Plymouth 
(which  is  near  forty  miles),  and  hath  with  great  toil 
brought  a  little  corn  home  with  him,  and  before  that 
is  spent  the  Lord  will  assuredly  provide."  Quoth 
the  other,  "  Our  last  peck  of  meal  is  now  in  the  oven 
at  home  a-baking,  and  many  of  our  godly  neighbors 
have  quite  spent  all,  and  we  owe  one  loaf  of  that  little 
we  have."  Then  spake  a  third,  ',«  My  husband  hath 
ventured  himself  among  the  Indians  for  corn,  and  can 
get  none,  as  also  our  honored  Governor  hath  dis- 
tributed his  so  far,  that  a  day  or  two  more  will  put 
an  end  to  his  store,  and  all  the  rest,  and  yet  methinks 
our  children  are  as  cheerful,  fat,  and  lusty  with  feed- 
ing upon  those  mussels,  clambanks  and  other  fish,  as 
they  were  in  England  with  their  fill  of  bread,  which 
makes  me  cheerful  in  the  Lord's  providing  for  us, 
being  further  confirmed  by  the  exhortation  of  our 
pastor  to  trust  the  Lord  with  providing  for  us  ; 
whose  is  the  earth  and  the  fulness   thereof." 

And  as  they  were  encouraging  one  another  in 
Christ's  careful  providing  for  them,  they  lift  up 
their  eyes  and  saw  two  ships  coming  in,  and  pres- 
ently  this  news  came  to  their  ears,  that  they  were 


10  EDWARD   JOHNSON. 

come  from  Jacland  full  of  victuals.  Now  their  poor 
hearts  were  not  so  much  refreshed  in  regard  of  the 
food  they  saw  they  were  like  to  have,  as  their  souls 
rejoiced  fn  that  Christ  would  now  manifest  himself 
to  be  the  commissary-general  of  this  his  Army,  and 
that  he  should  honor  them  so  far  as  to  be  poor  sutlers 
for  his  camp.  They  soon  up  with  their  mussels,  and 
hie  them  home  to  stay  their  hungry  stomachs.  After 
this  manner  did  Christ  many  times  graciously  provide 
for  this  his  people,  even  at  the  last  cast. 


Of  the  Gracious  Goodness  of  God  in  Hearing 
His  People's  Prayers  in  Time  of  Need,  and 
of  the  Shiploads  of  Goods  the  Lord  sent 
them   in. 

[from   the   same.      chap.    XXVII.] 

Here  again  the  admirable  Providence  of  the  Lord 
is  to  be  noted,  that  whereas  the  country  is  naturally 
subject  to  drought,  even  to  the  withering  of  their  sum- 
mer's fruits,  the  Lord  was  pleased,  during  these  years 
of  scarcity,  to  bless  that  small  quantity  of  land  they 
planted  with  seasonable  showers,  and  that  many  times 
to  the  great  admiration  of  the  Heathen.  For  thus  it 
befell.  The  extreme  parching  heat  of  the  sun  (by  rea- 
son of  a  more  constant  clearness  of  the  air  than  usu- 
ally is  in  England)  began  to  scorch  the  herbs  and 
fruits,  which  was  the  chiefest  means  of  their  liveli- 
hood. They  beholding  the  Hand  of  the  Lord 
stretched  out  against  them,  like  tender-hearted  chil- 
dren, they  fell  down  on  their  knees,  begging  mercy 


THE   GOODNESS   OF   GOD.  II 

of  the  Lord  for  their  Saviour's  sake,  urging  this  as  a 
chief  argument,  that  the  malignant  adversary  would 
rejoice  in  their  destruction,  and  blaspheme  the  pure 
Ordinances  of  Christ,  trampling  down  his  Kingly 
Commands  with  their  own  inventions;  and  in  utter- 
ing these  words,  their  eyes  dropped  down  many  tears, 
their  affections  prevailing  so  strong,  that  they  could 
not  refrain  in  the  Church  Assembly.  Here  admire 
and  be  strong  in  the  Grace  of  Christ,  all  you  that 
hopefully  belong  unto  him,  for  as  they  poured  out 
water  before  the  Lord,  so  at  that  very  instant,  the 
Lord  showered  down  water  on  their  gardens  and 
fields,  which  with  great  industry  they  had  planted, 
and  now  had  not  the  Lord  caused  it  to  rain  speedily, 
their  hope  of  food  had  been  lost ;  but  at  this  these 
poor  worms  were  so  exceedingly  taken,  that  the  Lord 
should  show  himself  so  near  unto  their  prayers,  that 
as  the  drops  from  Heaven  fell  thicker  and  faster,  so 
the  tears  from  their  eyes  by  reason  of  the  sudden 
mixture  of  joy  and  sorrow.  And  verily  they  were 
exceedingly  stirred  in  their  affections,  being  unable 
to  resolve  themselves  which  mercy  was  greatest,  to 
have  a  humble  begging  heart  given  them  of  God,  or 
to  have  their  request  so  suddenly  answered. 

The  Indians  hearing  hereof,  and  seeing  the  sweet 
rain  that  fell,  were  much  taken  with  Englishmen's 
God,  but  the  Lord  seeing  his  poor  people's  hearts 
were  too  narrow  to  beg,  his  bounties  exceeds  toward 
them  at  this  time,  as  indeed  he  ever  hitherto  hath 
done  for  this  Wilderness  People,  not  only  giving  the 
full  of  their  requests,  but  beyond  all  their  thoughts, 
as  witness  his  great  work  in  England  of  late,  in  which 
the  prayers  of  God's  people  in   New   England  have 


12  EDWARD   JOHNSON. 

had  a  great  stroke.  These  people  now  rising  from 
their  knees  to  receive  the  rich  mercies  of  Christ,  in 
the  refreshed  fruits  of  the  earth  ;  behold  the  sea  also 
bringing  in  whole  ship-loads  of  mercies,  more  being 
filled  with  fresh  forces  for  furthering  this  wonderful 
work  of  Christ.  And  indeed  this  year  came  in  many 
precious  ones,  whom  Christ  in  his  grace  hath  made 
much  use  of  in  these  his  Churches  and  Common- 
wealth, insomuch  that  these  people  were  even  almost 
over-balanced  with  the  great  income  of  their  present 
possessed  mercies.  Yet  they  address  themselves  to 
the  sea-shore,  where  they  courteously  welcome  the 
famous  servant  of  Christ,  grave,  godly  and  judicious 
Hooker,  and  the  honored  servant  of  Christ,  Mr. 
John  Haynes,  as  also  the  Reverend  and  much  desired 
Mr.  John  Cotton,  and  the  rhetorical  Mr.  Stone, 
with  divers  others  of  the  sincere  servants  of  Christ, 
coming  with  their  young,  and  with  their  old,  and 
with  their  whole  substance,  to  do  him  service  in  this 
desert  wilderness.  Thus  this  poor  people  having 
now  tasted  liberally  of  the  salvation  of  the  Lord  every 
way,  they  deem  it  high  time  to  take  up  the  cup  of 
thankfulness,  and  pay  their  vows  to  the  most  high 
God,  by  whom  they  were  holpen  to  this  purpose 
of  heart,  and  accordingly  set  apart  the  1 6th  day  of 
October  (which  they  call  the  eighth  month,  not 
out  of  any  peevish  humor  of  singularity,  as  some  are 
ready  to  censure  them  with,  but  of  purpose  to  pre- 
vent the  heathenish  and  Popish  observation  of  days, 
months  and  years,  that  they  may  be  forgotten  among 
the  people  of  the  Lord).  This  day  was  solemnly 
kept  by  all  the  seven  Churches,  rejoicing  in  the  Lord, 
and  rendering  thanks  for  all  their  benefits. 


LABORIOUS   WORK. 


l3 


Of  the  Laborious  Work  Christ's  People  have 
in  planting  this  wllderness,  set  forth  in 
the  building  the  town  of  concord,  being 
the  First  Inland  Town. 

[from  the  same.     chap.  xxxvi.] 

.  .  .  After  they  had  thus  found  out  a  place  of 
abode  they  burrow  themselves  in  the  earth  for  their 
first  shelter,  under  some  hillside,  casting  the  earth 
aloft  upon  timber  ;  they  make  a  smoky  fire  against 
the  earth  at  the  highest  side  and  thus  these  poor  ser- 
vants of  Christ  provide  shelter  for  themselves,  their 
wives  and  little  ones,  keeping  off  the  short  showers 
from  their  lodgings,  but  the  long  rains  penetrate 
through  to  their  great  disturbance  in  the  night  season. 
Yet  in  those  poor  wigwams  they  sing  psalms,  pray 
and  praise  their  God  till  they  can  provide  them 
houses,  which  ordinarily  was  not  wont  to  be  with 
many  till  the  earth  by  the  Lord's  blessing  brought 
forth  bread  to  feed  them,  their  wives  and  little  ones, 
which  with  sore  labor  they  attained,  every  one  that 
can  lift  a  hoe  to  strike  it  into  the  earth  standing  stoutly 
to  their  labors,  and  tear  up  the  roots  and  bushes, 
which  the  first  year  bears  them  a  very  thin  crop, 
till  the  sward  of  the  earth  be  rotten  and  therefore 
they  have  been  forced  to  cut  their  bread  very  thin 
for  a  long  season.  But  the  Lord  is  pleased  to  pro- 
vide for  them  great  store  of  fish  in  the  spring  time, 
and  especially  alewives,  about  the  bigness  of  a  her- 
ring. Many  thousands  of  these  they  used  to  put 
under   their   Indian   corn    which   they   plant   in   hills 


14  EDWARD   JOHNSON. 

five  foot  asunder,  and  assuredly  when  the  Lord 
created  this  corn  he  had  a  special  eye  to  provide  his 
people's  wants  with  it,  for  ordinarily  five  or  six  grains 
doth  produce  six  hundred.    .    .    . 

In  this  wilderness  work  men  of  estates  speed  no 
better  than  others,  and  some  much  worse  for  want 
of  being  inured  to  such  hard  labor  having  laid  out 
their  estates  on  cattle  at  five  and  twenty  pound  a 
cow,  when  they  come  to  winter  them  with  inland 
hay  and  feed  upon  such  wild  fodder  as  was  never 
cut  before  they  could  not  hold  out  the  winter,  but 
ordinarily  the  .first  or  second  year  after  their  coming 
up  to  a  new  plantation  many  of  their  cattle  died, 
especially  if  they  wanted  salt  marshes  ;  and  also 
those  who  supposed  they  could  feed  upon  swine's 
flesh  were  cut  short,  the  wolves  commonly  feasting 
themselves  before  them.  ...  As  for  those  who 
laid  out  their  estates  in  sheep  they  speed  worse  than 
any  at  the  beginning,  although  some  have  sped  the 
best  of  any  now,  for  until  the  land  be  often  fed  with 
other  cattle  sheep  cannot  live,  and  therefore  they 
never  thrive  till  these  latter  days.  Horse  had  then 
no  better  success,  which  made  many  an  honest  gentle- 
man travel  afoot  for  a  long  time.  ...  As  also  the 
want  of  English  grain,  wheat,  barley  and  rye,  proved 
a  sore  affliction  to  some  stomachs.  .  .  .  Instead  of 
apples  and  pears  they  had  pumpkins  and  squashes  of 
divers  kinds.  Their  lonesome  condition  was  very 
grievous  to  some,  which  was  much  agitated  by  con- 
tinual fear  of  the  Indians  approach,  whose  cruelties 
were  much  spoken  of.  .  .  .  Thus  this  poor  people 
populate  this  howling  desert,  marching  manfully  on, 
the  Lord  assisting,  through  the  greatest  difficulties  and 


PROMOTION    OF    LEARNING.  1 5 

sorest    labors  that   ever  any   with  such  weak  means 
have    done. 

Of  the  First  Promotion  of  Learning  in  New 
England  and  the  Extraordinary  Providences 
that    the     lord    was     pleased    to     send     for 

FURTHERING    OF    THE    SaME. 

[FROM    THE    SAME,    BOOK    II.        CHAP.    XIX.] 

Toward  the  latter  end  of  this  summer  came  over 
the  learned,  reverend,  and  judicious  Mr.  Henry 
Dunster,  before  whose  coming  the  Lord  was  pleased 
to  provide  a  patron  for  erecting  a  college,  as  you  have 
formerly  heard,  his  provident  hand  being  now  no  less 
powerful  in  pointing  out  with  his  unerring  finger  a 
president  abundantly  fitted,  this  his  servant,  and  sent 
him  over  for  to  manage  the  work.  And  as  in  all  the 
other  passages  of  this  history  the  Wonder-working 
Providence  of  Sion's  Saviour  hath  appeared,  so  more 
especially  in  this  work,  the  fountains  of  learning  being 
in  a  great  measure  stopped  in  our  native  country  at 
this  time,  so  that  the  sweet  waters  of  Shilo's  streams 
must  ordinarily  pass  into  the  churches  through  the 
stinking  channel  of  prelatical  pride,  beside  all  the  filth 
that  the  fountains  themselves  were  daily  encumbered 
withal,  insomuch  that  the  Lord  turned  aside  often 
from  them,  and  refused  the  breathings  of  his  blessed 
Spirit  among  them,  which  caused  Satan  (in  these 
latter  days  of  his  transformation  into  an  angel  of  light) 
to  make  it  a  means  to  persuade  people  from  the  use 
of  learning  altogether,  that  so  in  the  next  generation 
they  might  be  destitute  of  such  helps  as  the  Lord  hath 


l6  EDWARD   JOHNSON. 

been  pleased  hitherto  to  make  use  of,  as  chief  means 
for  the  conversion  of  his  people  and  building  them  up 
in  the  holy  faith,  as  also  for  breaking  down  the  King- 
dom of  Antichrist.  And  verily  had  not  the  Lord 
been  pleased  to  furnish  New  England  with  means  for 
the  attainment  of  learning,  the  work  would  have  been 
carried  on  very  heavily,  and  the  hearts  of  godly 
parents  would  have  vanished  away  with  heaviness  for 
their  poor  children,  whom  they  must  have  left  in  a 
desolate  wilderness,  destitute  of  the  means  of  grace. 

It  being  a  work  (in  the  apprehension  of  all  whose 
capacity  could  reach  to  the  great  sums  of  money  the 
edifice  of  a  mean  college  would  cost)  past  the  reach 
of  a  poor  pilgrim  people,  who  had  expended  the 
greatest  part  of  their  estates  on  a  long  voyage,  travel- 
ling into  foreign  countries  being  unprofitable  to  any 
that  have  undertaken  it,  although  it  were  but  with 
their  necessary  attendance,  whereas  this  people  were 
forced  to  travel  with  wives,  children,  and  servants  ; 
besides  they  considered  the  treble  charge  of  building 
in  this  new  populated  desert,  in  regard  of  all  kind  of 
workmanship,  knowing  likewise,  that  young  students 
could  make  up  a  poor  progress  in  learning,  by  looking 
on  the  bare  walls  of  their  chambers,  and  that  Dioge- 
nes would  have  the  better  of  them  by  far,  in  making 
use  of  a  tun  to  lodge  in  ;  not  being  ignorant  also, 
that  many  people  in  this  age  are  out  of  conceit  with 
learning,  and  that  although  they  were  not  among  a 
people  who  counted  ignorance  the  mother  of  devotion, 
yet  were  the  greater  part  of  the  people  wholly 
devoted  to  the  plough  (but  to  speak  uprightly,  hunger 
is  sharp,  and  the  head  will  retain  little  learning,  if  the 
heart   be    not   refreshed  in   some   competent   measure 


PROMOTION    OF    LEARNING.  1 7 

with  food,  although  the  gross  vapors  of  a  glutted 
stomach  are  the  bane  of  a  bright  understanding,  and 
brings  barrenness  to  the  brain).  But  how  to  have 
both  go  on  together,  as  yet  they  know  not.  Amidst 
all  these  difficulties,  it  was  thought  meet  learning 
should  plead  for  itself,  and  (as  many  other  men  of 
good  rank  and  quality  in  this  barren  desert)  plot  out 
a  way  to  live.  Hereupon  all  those  who  had  tasted 
the  sweet  wine  of  Wisdom's  drawing,  and  fed  on  the 
dainties  of  knowledge,  began  to  set  their  wits  a  work, 
and  verily  as  the  whole  progress  of  this  work  had  a 
farther  dependency  than  on  the  present-eyed  means, 
so  at  this  time  chiefly  the  end  being  firmly  fixed  on  a 
sure  foundation,  namely,  the  glory  of  God  and  good  of  all 
his  elect  people  the  world  throughout,  in  vindicating 
the  truths  of  Christ  and  promoting  his  glorious  King- 
dom, who  is  now  taking  the  heathen  for  his  inheri- 
tance and  the  utmost  ends  of  the  earth  for  his 
possession,  means  they  know  there  are,  many 
thousand  uneyed  of  mortal  man,  which  every  day's 
Providence  brings  forth. 

Upon  these  resolutions,  to  work  they  go,  and  with 
thankful  acknowledgment  readily  take  up  all  lawful 
means  as  they  come  to  hand.  For  place  they  fix 
their  eye  upon  New-Town,  which  to  tell  their  pos- 
terity whence  they  came,  is  now  named  Cambridge. 
And  withal  to  make  the  whole  world  understand 
that  spiritual  learning  was  the  thing  they  chiefly  de- 
sired, to  sanctify  the  other  and  make  the  whole  lump 
holy,  and  that  learning  being  set  upon  its  right  object 
might  not  contend  for  error  instead  of  truth,  they 
chose  this  place,  being  then  under  the  orthodox  and 
soul-flourishing  ministry  of  Mr.  Thomas  Shepard,  of 


1 8  EDWARD   JOHNSON. 

whom  it  may  be  said,  without  any  wrong  to  others, 
the  Lord  by  his  Ministry  hath  saved  many  a  hundred 
soul.  The  situation  of  this  College  is  very  pleasant, 
at  the  end  of  a  spacious  plain,  more  like  a  bowling- 
green  than  a  wilderness,  near  a  fair  navigable  river, 
environed  with  many  neighboring  towns  of  note, 
being  so  near,  that  their  houses  join  with  her  sub- 
urbs. The  building  thought  by  some  to  be  too  gor- 
geous for  a  wilderness,  and  yet  too  mean  in  others' 
apprehensions  for  a  college,  it  is  at  present  enlarging 
by  purchase  of  the  neighbor  houses.  It  hath  the 
conveniences  of  a  fair  hall,  comfortable  studies,  and 
a  good  library,  given  by  the  liberal  hand  of  some 
magistrates  and  ministers,  with  others.  The  chief 
gift  towards  the  founding  of  this  college  was  by  Mr. 
John  Harvard,  a  reverend  minister  ;  the  country, 
being  very  weak  in  their  public  treasury,  expended 
about  ^500  towards  it,  and  for  the  maintenance 
thereof,  gave  the  yearly  revenue  of  a  ferry  passage  be- 
tween Boston  and  Charles-Town,  the  which  amounts 
to  about  jQ\o  or  ^50  per  annum.  The  commis- 
sioners of  the  four  united  colonies  also  taking  into 
consideration  of  what  common  concernment  this  work 
would  be,  not  only  to  the  whole  plantations  in  gen- 
eral, but  also  to  all  our  English  Nation,  they  endeav- 
ored to  stir  up  all  the  people  in  the  several  colonies 
to  make  a  yearly  contribution  toward  it,  which  by  some 
is  observed,  but  by  the  most  very  much  neglected. 
The  government  hath  endeavored  to  grant  them  all 
the  privileges  fit  for  a  college,  and  accordingly  the 
Governor  and  magistrates,  together  with  the  President 
of  the  College  for  the  time  being,  have  a  continual  care 
of  ordering  all  matters  for  the  good  of  the  whole. 


PROMOTION    OF    LEARNING.  1 9 

This  college  hath  brought  forth  and  nurst  up  very 
hopeful  plants,  to  the  supplying  some  churches  here, 
as  the  gracious  and  godly  Mr.  Wilson,  son  to  the 
grave  and  zealous  servant  of  Christ,  Mr.  John  Wil- 
son ;  this  young  man  is  pastor  to  the  Church  of 
Christ  at  Dorchester  ;  as  also  Mr.  Buckly,  son  to 
the  reverend  Mr.  Buckly,  of  Concord  ;  as  also  a  sec- 
ond son  of  his,  whom  our  native  country  hath  now  at 
present  help  in  the  ministry,  and  the  other  is  over  a 
people  of  Christ  in  one  of  these  Colonies,  and  if  I 
mistake  not,  England  hath  I  hope  not  only  this  young 
man  of  New  England  nurturing  up  in  learning,  but 
many  more,  as  Mr.  Sam.  and  Nathaniel  Mathers, 
Mr.  Wells,  Mr.  Downing,  Mr.  Barnard,  Mr.  Allin, 
Mr.  Brewster,  Mr.  William  Ames,  Mr.  Jones.  An- 
other of  the  first-fruits  of  this  college  is  employed  in 
these  western  parts  in  Mevis,  one  of  the  Summer 
Islands  ;  besides  these  named,  some  help  hath  been 
had  from  hence  in  the  study  of  physic,  as  also  the 
godly  Mr.  Sam.  Danforth,  who  hath  not  only  studied 
divinity,  but  also  astronomy  ;  he  put  forth  many  al- 
manacs, and  is  now  called  to  the  office  of  a  teaching 
elder  in  the  Church  of  Christ  at  Roxbury,  who  was 
one  of  the  fellows  of  this  College.  The  number  of 
students  is  much  increased  of  late,  so  that  the  present 
year,  165  1,  on  the  twelfth  of  the  sixth  month,  ten 
of  them  took  the  degree  of  Bachelors  of  Art,  among 
whom  the  Sea-born  son  of  Mr.  John  Cotton  was 
one.    .    .   . 


JOHN  ELIOT. 

John  Eliot,  who  in  his  own  lifetime  earned  the 
name  of  "apostle  to  the  Indians,"  was  born  in 
Hertfordshire,  in  1604,  and  died  at  Roxbury,  Mas- 
sachusetts, in  1 690.  His  father  was  a  yeoman  land- 
holder, and  the  son  was  educated,  like  so  many  of 
his  fellow  Puritans,  at  Cambridge,  where  he  gradu- 
ated in  1622.  For  nine  years  he  taught  in  Thomas 
Hooker's  school  at  Little  Baddow.  He  had  taken 
orders  in  the  Church  of  England  before  he  joined 
the  church  at  Boston  in  1631,  where  he  preached 
in  the  pastor's  absence,  and  from  which,  the  next 
year,  he  accepted  a  call  to  Roxbury,  where  he  re- 
mained till  his  death.  He  took  an  active  part  in  the 
political  life  of  the  colony,  criticising  the  government 
so  freely  that  his  Christian  Commonwealth  was  con- 
demned and  suppressed  by  order  of  the  General 
Cou-t,  but  his  fame  rests  on  his  labors  with  the 
Indians,  for  whom  he  published  what  he  thought 
was  a  translation  of  the  Bible.  He  travelled  widely 
on  mission  journeys,  and  though  the  style  in  which 
he  tells  of  The  Daybreaking  if  not  the  Sunrising  of 
the  Gospel  with  the  Indians  in  New  England  may  be 
quite  destitute  of  charm,  the  sincerity  and  sweetness 
of  the  man  that  shine  through  it  show  him  to  have 
been  of  a  very  winning  and  lovable  nature.  The  lu- 
minosity of  the  title  is  characteristic  of  the  man,  and 
20 


DAYBREAKING  OF  THE  GOSPEL.      21 

appears  more  than  once  in  the  titles  of  his  tracts. 
Eliot  used  all  the  sunlight  and  much  of  the  torch- 
light of  his  long  life  in  truly  philanthropic  service. 
We  can  well  believe  what  he  says  of  his  Indian  con- 
gregation, —  '*  None  of  them  slept  sermon  or  derided 
God's  messenger."  He  has  his  reward  in  his  unbe- 
grudged  title  —  the  Apostle. 


THE  DAYBREAKING  IF  NOT  THE  SUN- 
RISING  OF  THE  GOSPEL  WITH  THE 
INDIANS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND  [1647]. 

[The   First  Preaching.] 

Upon  October  28,  1646,  four  of  us  having  sought 
God  went  unto  the  Indians  inhabiting  within  our 
bounds.  .  .  .  They  being  all  there  assembled  we  be- 
gan in  prayer  which  now  was  in  English,  being  not 
so  far  acquainted  with  the  Indian  language  as  to  ex- 
press our  hearts  therein  before  God  or  them,  but  we 
hope  it  will  be  done  ere  long,  the  Indians  desiring  it 
that  they  also  might  know  how  to  pray.  .  .  .  When 
prayer  was  ended  it  was  a  gloriously  affecting  spec- 
tacle to  see  a  company  of  perishing,  forlorn  outcasts, 
diligently  attending  to  the  blessed  word  of  salvation 
then  delivered,  professing  they  understood  all  that 
was  then  taught  them  in  their  own  tongue  ;  it  much 
affected  us  that  they  should  smell  some  things  of  the 
alabaster  box  broken  up  in  their  dark  and  gloomy 
habitation  of  filthiness  and  unclean  spirits.  .  .  .  Hav- 
ing thus  in  a  set  speech  familiarly  opened  the  prin- 
cipal matters  of  salvation  to  them,  the  next  thing  we 


22  JOHN    ELIOT. 

intended  was  discourse  with  them  by  propounding 
certain  questions  to  see  what  they  would  say  to  them, 
that  so  we  might  screw  by  variety  of  means  some- 
thing or  other  of  God  into  them,  but  before  we  did 
this  we  asked  them  if  they  understood  all  that  which 
was  already  spoken  and  whether  all  of  them  in  the 
wigwam  could  understand  or  only  some  few,  and 
they  answered  to  this  question,  with  multitude  of 
voices,  that  they  all  of  them  did  understand  all  that 
which   was  then  spoken  to  them.    ... 

Thus  after  three  hours'  time  thus  spent  with  them, 
we  asked  them  if  they  were  not  weary  and  they 
answered,  No,  but  we  resolved  to  leave  them  with 
an  appetite.  The  chief  of  them,  seeing  us  conclude 
with  prayer,  desired  to  know  when  we  would  come 
again,  so  we  appointed  the  time,  and  having  given 
the  children  some  apples  and  the  men  some  tobacco 
and  what  else  we  then  had  at  hand,  they  desired 
some  more  ground  to  build  a  town  together,  which 
we  did  much  like  of,  promising  to  speak  for  them  to 
the  General  Court  that  they  might  possess  all  the 
compass  of  that  hill  upon  which  their  wigwams 
stood,  and  so  we  departed  with  many  welcomes  from 
them. 

.  .  .  Methinks  now  that  it  is  with  the  Indians, 
as  it  was  with  our  New  English  ground  when  we 
first  came  over,  there  was  scarce  any  man  that  would 
believe  that  English  grain  would  grow  or  that  the 
plow  could  do  any  good  in  this  woody  and  rocky 
soil.  ...  so  we  have  thought  of  our  Indian  people 
and  therefore  have  been  discouraged  to  put  plow  to 
such  dry  and  rocky  ground,  but  God  having  begun 


AID    FOR   INDIAN    SCHOOLS.  23 

thus  with  some  few,  it  may  be  they  are  better  soil 
for  the  Gospel  than  we  can  think.  I  confess  I  think 
no  great  good  will  be  done  till  they  be  more  civil- 
ized, but  why  may  not  God  begin  with  some  few  to 
awaken  others  by  degrees  ?  Nor  do  I  expect  any 
great  good  will  be  wrought  by  the  English  (leaving 
secrets  to  God)  although  the  English  surely  begin 
and  lay  the  first  stones  of  Christ's  kingdom  and 
temple  amongst  them,  because  God  is  wont  ordi- 
narily to  convert  nations  and  people  by  some  of  their 
own  countrymen  who  are  nearest  to  them  and  can 
best  speak  and  most  of  all  pity  their  brethren  and 
countrymen.  But  yet  if  the  least  beginnings  be 
made  by  the  conversion  of  two  or  three  it  is  worth 
all  our  time  and  travails  and  cause  of  much  thankful- 
ness for  such  seeds,  although  no  great  harvest  should 
immediately  appear. 

[Aid  asked  for  Indian   Schools.] 

I  did  never  think  to  open  my  mouth  to  any  to 
desire  those  in  England  to  further  any  good  work 
here,  but  now  I  see  so  many  things  inviting  to  speak 
in  this  business  that  it  were  well  if  you  did  lay  before 
those  who  are  prudent  and  able  these  considerations. 

1 .  That  it  is  pretty  heavy  and  chargeable  to  edu- 
cate and  train  those  children  that  are  already  offered 
us,  in  schooling,  clothing,  diet  and  attendance  which 
they  must  have. 

2.  That  in  all  probability  many  Indians  in  other 
places,  especially  under  our  jurisdiction  will  be  pro- 
voked by  this  example  .  .  .  also  to  send  their 
children  to  us.    .    .    . 


24  JOHN    ELIOT. 

3.  That  if  any  shall  do  anything  to  encourage 
this  work  that  it  may  be  given  to  the  college  for  such 
an  end  and  use  that  so  from  the  college  may  arise 
the  yearly  revenue  for  their  yearly  maintenance.  I 
would  not  have  it  placed  in  any  particular  man's 
hands  for  fear  of  cozenage  or  misplacing  or  careless 
keeping  and  improving  ;  but  at  the  college  it 's  under 
many  hands  and  eyes  the  chief  and  best  of  the  coun- 
try who  have  been  and  will  be  exactly  careful  of  the 
right  and  comely  disposing  of  such  things  ;  and 
therefore  if  anything  be  given  let  it  be  put  in  such 
hands  as  may  immediately  direct  it  to  the  president 
of  the  college  who  you  know  will  soon  acquaint  the 
rest  with  it ;  and  for  this  end  if  any  in  England  have 
given  anything  for  this  end  I  would  have  them  speak 
to  those  who  have  received  it  to  send  it  this  way, 
which  if  it  be  withheld  I  think  'tis  no  less  than  sac- 
rilege :  but  if  God  moves  no  hearts  to  such  work,  I 
doubt  not  then  but  that  more  weak  means  shall  have 
the  honor  of  it  in  the  day  of  Christ. 


THE  CLEAR  SUNSHINE  OF  THE  GOSPEL 
BREAKING  FORTH  UPON  THE  IND- 
IANS  [1648]. 

[A   Letter  to   Rev.   Thomas  Shepard.] 

In  my  exercise  among  them  (as  you  know)  we 
attend  four  things,  besides  prayer  unto  God  for  his 
presence  and  blessing  upon  all  we  do. 

First,  I  catechise  the  children  and  youth  ;  wherein 
some  are  very  ready  and  expert  ;   they  can  readily  say 


LETTER   TO    REV.    THOMAS    SHEPARD.    25 

all  the  Commandments,  so  far  as  I  have  communicated 
them,  and  all  other  principles  about  the  creation,  the 
fall,  the  redemption  by  Christ,  etc.,  wherein  also  the 
aged  people  are  pretty  expert,  by  the  frequent  repeti- 
tion thereof  to  the  children,  and  are  able  to  teach  it 
to  their  children  at  home,  and  do  so. 

Secondly,  I  preach  unto  them  out  of  some  texts 
of  Scripture,  wherein  I  study  all  plainness  and  brevity, 
unto  which  many  are  very  attentive. 

Thirdly,  if  there  be  any  occasion,  we  in  the  next 
place  go  to  admonition  and  censure  ;  unto  which  they 
submit  themselves  reverently,  and  obediently,  and 
some  of  them  penitently  confessing  their  sins  with 
much  plainness,  and  without  shiftings  and  excuses. 
I  will  instance  in  two  or  three  particulars  ;  this  was 
one  case,  a  man  named  Wampoowas,  being  in  a  pas- 
sion upon  some  light  occasion,  did  beat  his  wife, 
which  was  a  very  great  offence  among  them  now 
(though  in  former  times  it  was  very  usual)  and  they 
had  made  a  law  against  it,  and  set  a  fine  upon  it  ; 
whereupon  he  was  publicly  brought  forth  before  the 
assembly,  which  was  great  that  day,  for  our  Governor 
and  many  other  English  were  then  present.  The 
man  wholly  condemned  himself  without  any  excuse  : 
and  when  he  was  asked  what  provocation  his  wife 
gave  him,  he  did  not  in  the  least  measure  blame  her 
but  himself,  and  when  the  quality  of  the  sin  was 
opened,  that  it  was  cruelty  to  his  own  body,  and 
against  God's  Commandment,  and  that  passion  was 
a  sin,  and  much  aggravated  by  such  effects,  yet  God 
was  ready  to  pardon  it  in  Christ,  etc.,  he  turned  his 
face  to  the  wall  and  wept,  though  with  modest  en- 
deavor to  hide  it  ;   and  such  was  the  modest,  penitent, 


20  JOHN    ELIOT. 

and  melting  behavior  of  the  man,  that  it  much  affected 
all  to  see  it  in  a  barbarian,  and  all  did  forgive  him, 
only  this  remained,  that  they  executed  their  law  not- 
withstanding his  repentance,  and  required  his  fine,  to 
which  he  willingly  submitted,  and  paid  it. 

Another  case  of  admonition  was  this,  Cutshamaquin 
the  Sachem  having  a  son  of  about  fourteen  or  fifteen 
years  old,  he  had  been  drunk,  and  had  behaved  him- 
self disobediently  and  rebelliously  against  his  father  and 
mother,  for  which  sin  they  did  blame  him,  but  he 
despised  their  admonition.  And  before  I  knew  of  it, 
1  did  observe  when  I  catechised  him,  when  he  should 
say  the  fifth  Commandment,  he  did  not  freely  say, 
"  Honor  thy  father,"  but  wholly  left  out  "  mother," 
and  so  he  did  the  lecture  day  before,  but  when  this 
sin  of  his  was  produced,  he  was  called  forth  before 
the  Assembly,  and  he  confessed  that  what  was  said 
against  him  was  true,  but  he  fell  to  accuse  his  father 
of  sundry  evils,  as  that  he  would  have  killed  him  in 
his  anger,  and  that  he  forced  him  to  drink  sack,  and 
I  know  not  what  else  :  which  behavior  we  greatly 
disliked,  showed  him  the  evil  of  it,  and  Mr.  Wilson 
being  present  labored  much  with  him,  for  he  under- 
stood the  English,  but  all  in  vain,  his  heart  was  hard 
and  hopeless  for  that  time.  Therefore  using  due  lov- 
ing persuasions,  we  did  sharply  admonish  him  of  his 
sin,  and  required  him  to  answer  further  the  next  lec- 
ture day,  and  so  left  him  ;  and  so  stout  he  was,  that 
when  his  father  offered  to  pay  his  fine  of  ten  shillings 
for  his  drunkenness  according  to  their  law,  he  would 
not  accept  it  at  his  hand.  When  the  next  day  was 
come,  and  other  exercises  finished,  I  called  him  forth, 
ind  he  willingly  came,  but  still  in  the  same  mind  as 


LETTER   TO    REV.   THOMAS    SHEPARD-     27 

before.  Then  we  turned  to  his  father,  and  exhorted 
him  to  remove  that  stumbling-block  out  of  his  son's 
way,  by  confessing  his  own  sins  whereby  he  had  given 
occasion  of  hardness  of  heart  to  his  son  ;  which  thing 
was  not  sudden  to  him,  for  I  had  formerly  in  private 
prepared  him  thereunto,  and  he  was  very  willing  to 
hearken  to  that  counsel,  because  his  conscience  told 
him  he  was  blameworthy  ;  and  accordingly  he  did,  he 
confessed  his  main  and  principal  evils  of  his  own  ac- 
cord :  and  upon  this  advantage  I  took  occasion  to  put 
him  upon  confession  of  sundry  other  vices  which  I 
knew  he  had  in  former  times  been  guilty  of,  and  all 
the  Indians  knew  it  likewise  ;  and  put  it  after  this 
manner,  Are  you  now  sorry  for  your  drunkenness, 
filthiness,  false  dealing,  lying,  etc.,  which  sins  you 
committed  before  you  knew  God?  unto  all  which 
cases  he  expressed  himself  sorrowful,  and  condemned 
himself  for  them  :  which  example  of  the  Sachem  was 
profitable  for  all  the  Indians.  And  when  he  had  thus 
confessed  his  sins,  we  turned  again  to  his  son  and 
labored  with  him,  requiring  him  to  confess  his  sin, 
and  entreat  God  to  forgive  him  for  Christ  his  sake,  and 
to  confess  his  offence  against  his  father  and  mother, 
and  entreat  them  to  forgive  him,  but  he  still  refused  ; 
and  now  the  other  Indians  spake  unto  him  soberly  and 
affectionately,  to  put  him  on,  and  divers  spake  one 
after  another,  and  some  several  times.  Mr.  Wilson 
again  did  much  labor  with  him,  and  at  last  he  did 
humble  himself,  confessed  all,  and  entreated  his  father 
to  forgive  him,  and  took  him  by  the  hand,  at  which 
his  father  burst  forth  into  great  weeping.  He  did  the 
same  also  to  his  mother,  who  wept  also,  and  so  did 
divers  others  ;  and  many  English  being  present,  they 


28  JOHN    ELIOT. 

fell  a-weeping,  so  that  the  house  was  filled  with  weep- 
ing on  every  side  ;  and  then  we  went  to  prayer,  in 
all  which  time  Cutshamaquin  wept,  insomuch  that 
when  we  had  done  the  board  he  stood  upon  was  all 
dropped  with  his  tears. 

Another  case  of  admonition  was  this,  a  hopeful 
young  man  who  is  my  servant,  being  upon  a  journey, 
and  drinking  sack  at  their  setting  forth,  he  drank  too 
much,  and  was  disguised  ;  which  when  I  heard  I  re- 
proved him,  and  he  humbled  himself,  with  confession 
of  his  sin,  and  tears.  And  the  next  lecture  day  I 
called  him  forth  before  the  Assembly,  where  he  did 
confess  his  sin  with  many  tears. 

Before  I  leave  this  point  of  admonition,  if  I  thought 
it  would  not  be  too  tedious  to  you,  I  would  mention 
one  particular  more,  where  we  saw  the  power  of  God 
awing  a  wicked  wretch  by  this  ordinance  of  admoni- 
tion. It  was  George  that  wicked  Indian,  who,  as 
you  know,  at  our  first  beginnings  sought  to  cast  asper- 
sions upon  religion,  by  laying  slanderous  accusations 
against  godly  men,  and  who  asked  that  captious  ques- 
tion, "Who  made  sack?"  and  this  fellow  having 
killed  a  young  cow  at  your  town,  and  sold  it  at  the 
college  instead  of  moose,  covered  it  with  many  lies, 
insomuch  as  Mr.  Dunster  was  loath  he  should  be 
directly  charged  with  it  when  we  called  him  forth, 
but  that  we  should  rather  inquire.  But  when  he  was 
called  before  the  Assembly,  and  charged  with  it,  he  had 
not  power  to  deny  it,  but  presently  confessed,  only 
he  added  one  thing  which  we  think  was  an  excuse  ; 
thus  God  hath  honored  this  ordinance  among  them. 

Fourthly,  the  last  exercise,  you  know,  we  have 
among  them,  is  their  asking  us  questions,  and  very 


LETTER   TO   REV.    THOMAS    SHEPARD.    29 

many  they  have  asked,  which  I  have  forgotten,  but 
some  few  that  come  to  my  present  remembrance  I 
will  briefly  touch. 

One  was  Wabbakoxet's  question,  who  is  reputed 
an  old  Powwaw ;  it  was  to  this  purpose,  seeing  the 
English  had  been  twenty-seven  years  (some  of  them) 
in  this  land,  why  did  we  never  teach  them  to  know 
God  till  now  ?  '*  Had  you  done  it  sooner,"  said  he, 
"  we  might  have  known  much  of  God  by  this  time, 
and  much  sin  might  have  been  prevented,  but  now 
some  of  us  are  grown  old  in  sin,"  etc.  To  whom 
we  answered,  that  we  do  repent  that  we  did  not  long 
ago,  as  now  we  do,  yet  withal  we  told  them,  that 
they  were  never  willing  to  hear  till  now,  and  that 
seeing  God  hath  bowed  their  hearts  to  be  willing  to 
hear,  we  are  desirous  to  take  all  the  pains  we  can  now 
to  teach  them. 

Another  question  was,  that  of  Cutshamaquin,  to 
this  purpose,  "Before  I  knew  God,"  said  he,  f « I 
^thought  J  was  well,  but  since  I  have  known  God  and 
sin,  I  find  my  heart  full  of  sin,  and  more  sinful  than 
ever  it  was  before,  and  this  hath  been  a  great  trouble 
to  me  ;  and  at  this  day  my  heart  is  but  very  little 
better  than  it  was,  and  I  am  afraid  it  will  be  as  bad 
again  as  it  was  before,  and  therefore  I  sometimes 
wish  I  might  die  before  I  be  so  bad  again  as  I 
have  been.  Now  my  question  is,  whether  is  this 
a  sin  or  not  ?  "  This  question  could  not  be  learned 
from  the  English,  nor  did  it  seem  a  coined  feigned 
thing,  but  a  real  matter  gathered  from  the  experience 
of  his  own  heart,  and  from  an  inward  observation  of 
himself. 

Another  question  was  about  their  children,  Whither 


30  JOHN    ELIOT. 

their  little   children  go  when  they  die,   seeing  they 
have  not  sinned  ? 

Which  question  gave  occasion  more  fully  to  teach 
them  original  sin,  and  the  damned  state  of  all  men. 
And  also,  and  especially  it  gave  occasion  to  teach 
them  the  Covenant  of  God,  which  he  hath  made 
with  all  his  people,  and  with  their  children,  so  that 
when  God  chooses  a  man  or  a  woman  to  be  his 
servant,  he  chooses  all  their  children  to  be  so  also  ; 
which  doctrine  was  exceeding  grateful  unto  them. 

FROM  A  LATE  AND  FURTHER  MANIFES- 
TATION OF  THE  PROGRESS  OF  THE 
GOSPEL  AMONG  THE  INDIANS  IN 
NEW    ENGLAND. 

Declaring  their  Constant  Love  and  Zeal  to  the 
Truth  with  a  Readiness  to  give  Account  of 
their  Faith  and  Hope  as  of  their  Desires  in 
Church  Communion  to  be  Partakers  of  the 
Ordinances  of  Christ,  being  a  Narrative  of 
the  Examination  of  the  Indians  about  their 
Knowledge  in  Religion  by  the  Elders  of  the 
Churches.  Related  by  Mr.  John  Eliot,  pub- 
lished by  the  Corporation,  established  by  Act 
of  Parliament  for  propagating  the  Gospel 
there.     [London,   1655.] 

[scandal  among  the  converted.] 

There  fell  out  a  very  great  discouragement  a  little 
before   the   time,  which   might   have   been   a   scandal 


A   SCANDAL   IN   THE    INDIAN    ISRAEL.      3 1 

unto  them,  and  I  doubt  not  but  Satan  intended  it  so  ; 
but  the  Lord  improved  it  to  stir  up  faith  and  prayer, 
and  so  turned  it  another  way.  Thus  it  was  :  Three 
of  the  unsound  sort  of  such  as  are  among  them  that 
pray  unto  God,  who  are  hemmed  in  by  relations,  and 
other  means,  to  do  that  which  their  hearts  love  not, 
and  whose  vices  Satan  improveth  to  scandalize  and 
reproach  the  better  sort  withal  ;  while  many,  and  some 
good  people  are  too  ready  to  say  they  are  all  alike.  J 
say  three  of  them  had  gotten  several  quarts  of  strong 
water  (which  sundry  out  of  a  greedy  desire  of  a  little 
gain,  are  too  ready  to  sell  unto  them,  to  the  offence 
and  grief  of  the  better  sort  of  Indians,  and  of  the 
godly  English  too),  and  with  these  liquors,  did  not 
only  make  themselves  drunk,  but  got  a  child  of  eleven 
years  of  age,  the  son  of  Toteswamp,  whom  his  father 
had  sent  for  a  little  corn  and  fish  to  that  place  near 
Watertowne,  where  they  were.  Unto  this  child  they 
first  gave  two  spoonfuls  of  strongwater,  which  was 
more  than  his  head  could  bear  ;  and  another  of  them 
put  a  bottle,  or  such  like  vessel  to  his  mouth,  and 
caused  him  to  drink  till  he  was  very  drunk  ;  and  then 
one  of  them  domineered,  and  said,  "  Now  we  will 
see  whether  your  father  will  punish  us  for  drunkenness 
(for  he  is  a  ruler  among  them)  seeing  you  are  drunk 
with  us  for  company  ;  "  and  in  this  case  lay  the  child 
abroad  all  night.  They  also  fought,  and  had  been 
several  times  punished  formerly  for  drunkenness. 

When  Toteswamp  heard  of  this,  it  was  a  great 
shame  and  breaking  of  heart  unto  him,  and  he  knew 
not  what  to  do.  The  rest  of  the  rulers  with  him 
considered  of  the  matter,  they  found  a  complication 
of  many  sins  together. 


32  JOHN   ELIOT. 

i.  The  sin  of  drunkenness,  and  that  after  many 
former  punishments  for  the  same. 

2.  A  wilful  making  of  the  child  drunk,  and  expos- 
ing him  to  danger  also. 

3.  A  degree  of  reproaching  the  rulers. 

4.  Fighting. 

Word  was  brought  to  me  of  it,  a  little  before  I 
took  horse  to  go  to  Natick  to  keep  the  Sabbath  with 
them,  being  about  ten  days  before  the  appointed  meet- 
ing. The  tidings  sunk  my  spirit  extremely,  I  did 
judge  it  to  be  the  greatest  frown  of  God  that  ever  I 
met  withal  in  the  work,  I  could  read  nothing  in  it 
but  displeasure,  I  began  to  doubt  about  our  intended 
work  :  I  knew  not  what  to  do,  the  blackness  of  the 
sins,  and  the  persons  reflected  on,  made  my  very 
heart  fail  me.  For  one  of  the  offenders  (though  least 
in  the  offence)  was  he  that  hath  been  my  interpreter, 
whom  I  have  used  in  translating  a  good  part  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures  ;  and  in  that  respect  I  saw  much  of 
Satan's  venom,  and  in  God  I  saw  displeasure.  For 
this  and  some  other  acts  of  apostasy  at  this  time,  I 
had  thoughts  of  casting  him  off  from  that  work,  yet 
now  the  Lord  hath  found  a  way  to  humble  him.  But 
his  apostasy  at  this  time  was  a  great  trial,  and  I  did 
lay  him  by  for  that  day  of  our  examination,  I  used 
another  in  his  room.  Thus  Satan  aimed  at  me  in 
this  their  miscarrying  ;  and  Toteswamp  is  a  principal 
man  in  the  work,  as  you  shall  have  occasion  to  see 
anon,  God  willing. 

By  some  occasion  our  ruling  elder  and  I  being  to- 
gether, I  opened  the  case  unto  him,  and  the  Lord 
guided  him  to  speak  some  gracious  words  of  encour- 
agement unto  me,  by  which  the  Lord  did  relieve  m> 


A   SCANDAL   IN   THE   INDIAN    ISRAEL.     33 

spirit  ;  and  so  I  committed  the  matter  and  issue  unto 
the  Lord,  to  do  what  pleased  him,  and  in  so  doing 
my  soul  was  quiet  in  the  Lord.  I  went  on  my  jour- 
ney being  the  sixth  day  of  the  week  ;  when  I  came 
at  Natick,  the  rulers  had  then  a  court  about  it.  Soon 
after  I  came  there,  the  rulers  came  to  me  with  a  ques- 
tion about  this  matter,  they  related  the  whole  business 
unto  me,  with  much  trouble  and  grief. 

Then  Totes wamp  spake  to  this  purpose,  "I  am 
greatly  grieved  about  these  things,  and  now  God 
trieth  me  whether  I  love  Christ  or  my  child  best. 
They  say  they  will  try  me  ;  but  I  say  God  will  try 
me.  Christ  saith,  He  that  loveth  father,  or' mother, 
or  wife,  or  child,  better  than  me,  is  not  worthy  of 
me.  Christ  saith,  I  must  correct  my  child,  if  I 
should  refuse  to  do  that,  I  should  not  love  Christ. 
God  bid  Abraham  kill  his  son,  Abraham  loved  God, 
and  therefore  he  would  have  done  it,  had  not  God 
withheld  him.  God  saith  to  me,  only  punish  your 
child,  and  how  can  I  love  God,  if  I  should  refuse  to 
do  that  ?  "  These  things  he  spake  in  more  words,  and 
much  affection,  and  not  with  dry  eyes.  Nor  could  I 
refrain  from  tears  to  hear  him.  When  it  was  said, 
The  child  was  not  so  guilty  of  the  sin,  as  those  that 
made  him  drunk  ;  he  said,  that  he  was  guilty  of  sin, 
in  that  he  feared  not  sin,  and  in  that  he  did  not  be- 
lieve his  councils  that  he  had  often  given  him,  to  take 
heed  of  evil  company  ;  but  he  had  believed  Satan  and 
sinners  more  than  him,  therefore  he  needed  to  be 
punished.  After  other  such  like  discourse,  the  rulers 
left  me,  and  went  unto  their  business,  which  they 
were  about  before  I  came,  which  they  did  bring  unto 
this  conclusion  and  judgment,  They  judged  the  three 


34  JOHN   ELIOT. 

men  to  sit  in  the  stocks  a  good  space  of  time,  and  thence 
to  be  brought  to  the  whipping-post,  and  have  each  of 
them  twenty  lashes.  The  boy  to  be  put  in  the  stocks 
a  little  while,  and  the  next  day  his  father  was  to  whip 
him  in  the  school,  before  the  children  there  ;  all  which 
judgment  was  executed.  When  they  came  to  be 
whipped,  the  constable  fetched  them  one  after  another 
to  the  tree  (which  they  make  use  of  instead  of  a  post) 
where  they  all  received  their  punishments  :  which 
done,  the  rulers  spake  thus,  one  of  them  said,  V  The 
punishments  for  sin  are  the  Commandments  of  God, 
and  the  work  of  God,  and  his  end  was,  to  do  them 
good,  and  bring  them  to  repentance."  And  upon 
that  ground  he  did  in  more  words  exhort  them  to  re- 
pentance, and  amendment  of  life.  When  he  had  done, 
another  spake  unto  them  to  this  purpose,  *f  You  are 
taught  in  catechism,  that  the  wages  of  sin  are  all 
miseries  and  calamities  in  this  life,  and  also  death  and 
eternal  damnation  in  hell.  Now  you  feel  some  smart 
as  the  fruit  of  your  sin,  and  this  is  to  bring  you  to 
repentance,  that  so  you  may  escape  the  rest."  And 
in  more  words  he  exhorted  them  to  repentance. 
When  he  had  done,  another  spake  to  this  purpose, 
M  Hear  all  ye  people  "  (turning  himself  to  the  people 
who  stood  round  about,  I  think  not  less  than  two 
hundred,  small  and  great)  **  this  is  the  commandment 
of  the  Lord,  that  thus  it  should  be  done  unto  sinners  ; 
and  therefore  let  all  take  warning  by  this,  that  you  com- 
mit not  such  sins,  lest  you  incur  these  punishments." 
And  with  more  words  he  exhorted  the  people.  Others 
of  the  rulers  spake  also,  but  some  things  spoken  I 
understood  not,  and  some  things  slipped  from  me. 
But  these  which  I  have  related  remained  with  me. 


THE    INDIAN   GRAMMAR    BEGUN.      35 

When  I  returned  to  Roxbury,  1  related  these  things 
to  our  elder,  to  whom  I  had  before  related  the  sin, 
and  my  grief:  who  was  much  affected  to  hear  it,  and 
magnified  God.  He  said  also,  That  their  sin  was 
but  a  transient  act,  which  had  no  rule,  and  would 
vanish.  But  these  judgments  were  an  ordinance  of 
God,  and  would  remain,  and  do  more  good  every 
way,  than  their  sin  could  do  hurt,  telling  me  what 
cause  I  had  to  be  thankful  for  such  an  issue.  Which 
I  therefore  relate,  because  the  Lord  did  speak  to  my 
heart,  in  this  exigent,  by  his  words. 


FROM    "THE    INDIAN    GRAMMAR 
BEGUN, 

Or  an  Essay  to  Bring  the  Indian  Language  into 
Rules,    for    the     help    of    such    as    desire   to 

LEARN    THE    SaME,     FOR    THE    FURTHERANCE    OF    THE 

Gospel  among   Them."       [Cambridge,    1666.] 

Musical  sounds  they  also  have,  and  perfect  har- 
mony, but  they  differ  from  us  in  sound. 

There  be  four  several  sorts  of  sounds  or  tones 
uttered  by  mankind. 

1.  Articulation  in  speech. 

2.  Laughter. 

3.  Lactation  and  joy  :  of  which  kind  of  sounds 
our  music  and  song  is  made. 

4.  Ululation,  howling,  yelling,  or  mourning  :  and 
of  that  kind  of  sound  is  their  music  and  song  made. 

In  which  kind  of  sound  they  also  hallow  and  call, 
when  they  are  most  vociferous. 


36  JOHN    ELIOT. 

And  that  it  is  thus,  it  may  be  perceived  by  this, 
that  their  language  is  so  full  of  (00)  and  6  nasal. 

They  have  harmony  and  tunes  which  they  sing, 
but  the  matter  is  not  in  metre. 

They  are  much  pleased  to  have  their  language 
and  words  in  metre  and  rhythm,  as  it  now  is  in  the 
singing  Psalms  in  some  poor  measure,  enough  to  be- 
gin and  break  the  ice  withal  :  These  they  sing  in  our 
musical  tone. 

So  much  for  the  sounds  and  characters. 

Now  follows  the  consideration  of  syllables  and  the 
Art  of  spelling. 

The  formation  of  syllables  in  their  language,  doth 
in  nothing  differ  from  the  formation  of  syllables  in 
the  English,  and  other  languages. 

When  I  taught  our  Indians  first  to  lay  out  a  word 
into  syllables,  and  then  according  to  the  sound  of 
every  syllable  to  make  it  up  with  the  right  letters, 
viz.  if  it  were  a  simple  sound,  then  one  vocal  made 
the  syllable  ;  if  it  were  such  a  sound  as  required  some 
of  the  consonants  to  make  it  up,  then  the  adding  of 
the  right  consonants  either  before  the  vocal,  or  after 
it,  or  both.  They  quickly  apprehended  and  under- 
stood this  epitome  of  the  art  of  spelling,  and  could 
soon  learn  to  read. 

The  men,  women,  and  up-grown  youth  do  thus 
rationally  learn  to  read  :  but  the  children  learn  by 
rote  and  custom,  as  other  children  do. 

Such  as  desire  to  learn  this  language,  must  be 
attentive  to  pronounce  right,  especially  to  produce 
that  syllable  that  is  first  to  be  produced  ;  then  they 
must  spell  by  art,  and  accustom  their  tongues  to  pro- 
nounce their  syllables  and  words  ;   then  learn  to  read 


THE    INDIAN    GRAMMAR    BEGUN.     27 

such  books  as  are  printed  in  their  language.  Legendo, 
scribendo,  loquendo,  are  the  three  means  to  learn  a 
language. 

So  much  for  the  rule  of  making  words. 

Touching  the  principal  parts  of  speech,  this  may 
be  said  in  general,  That  nouns  are  the  names  of 
things,  and  verbs  are  the  names  of  actions  ;  and 
therefore  their  proper  attendants  are  answerable. 
Adnouns  are  the  qualities  of  things,  and  adverbs  are 
the  qualities  of  actions. 

And  hence  is  that  wise  saying,  That  a  Christian 
must  be  adorned  with  as  many  Adverbs  as  Adjec- 
tives :  He  must  as  well  do  good  as  be  good.  When 
a  man's  virtuous  actions  are  well  adorned  with  Ad- 
verbs, every  one  will  conclude  that  the  man  is  well 
adorned  with  virtuous  Adjectives. 


I.     Of  the  Pronoun. 

Because  of  the  common  and  general  use  of  the 
pronoun  to  be  affixed  unto  both  nouns,  verbs,  and 
other  parts  of  speech,  and  that  in  the  formation  of 
them  ;  therefore  that  is  the  first  part  of  speech  to  be 
handled. 

1  shall  give  no  other  description  of  them  but  this, 
They  are  such  words  as  do  express  all  the  persons, 
both  singular  and  plural  :  as 


(  Neen,  /.  )  ( 

ing.  I  Ken,   Thou.  \  P/u.  1 

(  Noh  or  mgutrifHe.  J  (^ 


Neenawun  or  kenawun,  We. 

Kenaau,  Ye. 

Nahoh  or  Nagoh,   Tbey. 


38  JOHN    ELIOT. 

There  be  also  other  pronouns  of  frequent  use  : 

^  2f*  ?j>  *t>  2JC  5j^  5j£  2jC 

2.   o/*  ^  AW/?. 

A  noun  is  a  part  of  speech  which  signifieth  a 
thing  ;   or  it  is  the  name  of  a  thing. 

The  variation  of  nouns  is  not  by  male  and  female, 
as  in  other  learned  languages,  and  in  European  nations 
they  do. 

Nor  are  they  varied  by  cases,  cadencies,  and  end- 
ings :   herein  they  are  more  like  to  the  Hebrew. 

Yet  there  seemeth  to  be  one  cadency  or  case  of  the 
first  declination  of  the  form  animate,  which  endeth  in 
oh,  uh,  or  ah  ;  viz.  when  an  animate  noun  followeth 
a  verb  transitive  whose  object  that  he  acteth  upon  is 
without  himself.  For  example:  Gen.  i.  16.  the 
last  word  is  anogqsog>  stars.  It  is  an  erratum  :  it 
should  be  anogqsob,  because  it  followeth  the  verb 
ayim.  He  made.  Though  it  be  an  erratum  in  the 
press,  it  is  the  fitter  in  some  respects  for  an  example. 


In  nouns,  consider 


U 


Genera,  or  kinds  of  nouns. 

The  qualities  or  affections  thereof. 


The  kinds  of  nouns  are  two  ;  according  to  which 
there  be  two  declensions  of  nouns,  for  the  variation  of 
the  number. 

Numbers  are  two  :   singular  and  plural. 

The  first  kind  of  nouns  is,  when  the  thing  signi- 
fied is  a  living  creature. 

The  second  kind  is,  when  the  thing  signified  is  not 
a  living  creature. 


THE    INDIAN    GRAMMAR    BEGUN.     39 

Therefore  I  order  them  thus  : 

There  be  two  forms  or  declensions  of  nouns  :  <  f 

(  Inanimate. 

The  animate  form  or  declension  is,  when  the 
thing  signified  is  a  living  creature  :  and  such  nouns 
do  always  make  their  plural  in  (og)  ;   as, 

Wosketomp,  Man.  Wosketompaog  (^)  is  but 
for   Euphony. 

Mittamwossis,  A  Woman.      Mittamwossissog. 

-X-         -x-         -X-         -x-         -X-  -x-  -x-         -X- 

The  stars  they  put  in  this  form  : 

Anogqs,  A  Star.      Anogqsog. 

Some  few  exceptions  I  know. 

-X--X--X--X--X--X--X--X- 

I  have  now  finished  what  I  shall  do  at  present : 
and  in  a  word  or  two  to  satisfy  the  prudent  enquirer 
how  I  found  out  these  new  ways  of  Grammar,  which 
no  other  learned  language  (so  far  as  I  know,  useth  ; 
I  thus  inform  him  :  God  first  put  into  my  heart  a 
compassion  over  their  poor  souls,  and  a  desire  to  teach 
them  to  know  Christ,  and  to  bring  them  into  his 
Kingdom.  Then  presently  I  found  out  (by  God's 
wise  providence)  a  pregnant  witted  young  man,  who 
had  been  a  servant  in  an  English  house,  who  pretty 
well  understood  his  own  language,  and  hath  a  clear 
pronunciation  :  Him  I  made  my  interpreter.  By  his 
help  I  translated  the  Commandments,  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  and  many  texts  of  Scripture :  Also  I  com- 
piled both  exhortations  and  prayers  by  his  help.  I 
diligently  marked  the  difference  of  their  grammar  from 


40  JOHN    ELIOT. 

ours  :  When  I  found  the  way  of  them,  I  would  pur- 
sue a  word,  a  noun,  a  verb,  through  all  variations  I 
could  think  of.  And  thus  I  came  at  it.  We  must 
not  sit  still  and  look  for  miracles  ;  Up,  and  be  doing, 
and  the  Lord  will  be  with  thee.  Prayer  and  pains, 
through  faith  in  Christ  Jesus  will  do  anything.  Nil 
tarn  deficile  quod  non  —  I  do  believe  and  hope  that 
the  Gospel  shall  be  spread  to  all  the  ends  of  the  earth, 
and  dark  corners  of  the  world  by  such  a  way,  and 
such  instruments  as  the  Churches  shall  send  forth  for 
that  end  and  purpose.  Lord  hasten  those  good  days, 
and  pour  out  that  good  Spirit  upon  thy  people. 
Amen. 

FROM  "A  BRIEF  NARRATIVE  OF  THE 
PROGRESS  OF  THE  GOSPEL  AMONGST 
THE  INDIANS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND,  IN 
THE  YEAR   1670."      [LONDON,    1671.] 

[A  Letter  to  the  Commissioners  for  the  Propa- 
gation of  the  Gospel.] 

Natick  is  our  chief  town,  where  most  and  chief  of 
our  rulers,  and  most  of  the  church  dwells  ;  here 
most  of  our  chief  courts  are  kept  ;  and  the  sacraments 
in  the  church  are  for  the  most  part  here  administered  : 
It  is  (by  the  Divine  Providence)  seated  well  near  in 
the  center  of  all  our  praying  Indians,  though  west- 
ward the  cords  of  Christ's  tents  are  more  enlarged. 
Here  we  began  civil  government  in  the  year  1650. 
And  here  usually  are  kept  the  General-Trainings, 
which  seven  years  ago  looked  so  big  that  we  never 


SOME    INDIAN    TOWNS.  4 1 

had  one  since  till  this  year,  and  it  was  at  this  time 
but  a  small  appearance.  Here  we  have  two  teach- 
ers, John  Speen  and  Anthony  ;  we  have  betwixt 
forty  and  fifty  communicants  at  the  Lord's  Table, 
when  they  all  appear,  but  now,  some  are  dead,  and 
some  decriped  with  age  ;  and  one  under  censure, 
yet  making  towards  a  recovery  ;  one  died  here  the 
last  winter  of  the  stone,  a  temperate,  sober,  godly 
man,  the  first  Indian  that  ever  was  known  to  have 
that  disease  ;  but  now  another  hath  the  same  disease  : 
Sundry  more  are  proposed,  and  in  way  of  prepara- 
tion to  join  unto  the  Church. 

Ponkipog,  or  Pakeunit,  is  our  second  town,  where 
the  Sachems  of  the  Blood  (as  they  term  their  chief 
royal-line)  had  their  residence  and  rights,  which  are 
mostly  alienated  to  the  English  towns  :  The  last  chief 
man,  of  that  line,  was  last  year  slain  by  the  Mauqu- 
zogs,  against  whom  he  rashly  (without  due  attend- 
ants and  assistance,  and  against  counsel)  went  ;  yet 
all,  yea,  his  enemies  say,  he  died  valiantly  ;  they 
were  more  afraid  to  kill  him,  than  he  was  to  die  ; 
yet  being  deserted  by  all  (some  knowingly  say 
through  treason)  he  stood  long,  and  at  last  fell  alone  : 
Had  he  had  but  ten  men,  yea  five  in  good  order  with 
him,  he  would  have  driven  all  his  enemies  before 
him.  His  brother  was  resident  with  us  in  this 
town,  but  he  is  fallen  into  sin,  and  from  praying  to 
God.  Our  chief  ruler  is  Ahauton,  an  old  stedfast 
and  trusty  friend  to  the  English,  and  loveth  his  coun- 
try. He  is  more  loved  than  feared  ;  the  reins  of  his 
bridle  are  too  long.  Wakan  is  sometimes  necessarily 
called  to  keep  courts  here,  to  add  life  and  zeal  in  the 
punishment  of  sinners.      Their  late  teacher,  William, 


42  JOHN   ELIOT. 

is  deceased  ;  he  was  a  man  of  eminent  parts,  all  the 
English  acknowledge  him,  and  he  was  known  to 
many  :  he  was  of  a  ready  wit,  sound  judgment,  and 
affable  ;'  he  is  gone  unto  the  Lord  ;  and  William,  the 
son  of  Ahauton,  is  called  to  be  teacher  in  his  stead. 
He  is  a  promising  young  man,  of  a  single  and  up- 
right heart,  a  good  judgment,  he  prayeth  and  preach- 
eth  well,  he  is  studious  and  industrious,  and  well 
accounted  of  among  the  English.    .    .    . 

Nashope  is  our  next  praying  town,  a  place  of 
much  affliction  ;  it  was  the  chief  place  of  residence, 
where  Tahattawans  lived,  a  sachem  of  the  blood,  a 
faithful  and  zealous  christian,  a  strict  yet  gentle  ruler  ; 
he  was  a  ruler  of  fifty  in  our  civil  order  ;  and  when 
God  took  him,  a  chief  man  in  our  Israel  was  taken 
away  from  us.  His  only  son  was  a  while  vain,  but 
proved  good,  expert  in  the  Scripture,  was  elected  to 
rule  in  his  father's  place,  but  soon  died,  insomuch 
that  this  place  is  now  destitute  of  a  ruler.  The 
teacher  of  the  place  is  John  Thomas,  a  godly  under- 
standing christian,  well  esteemed  of  by  the  Eng- 
lish :  his  father  was  killed  by  the  Mauquaogs,  shot 
to  death  as  he  was  in  the  river  doing  his  eel- 
weirs.  This  place  lying  in  the  road-way  which 
the  Mauquaogs  haunted,  was  much  molested  by 
them,  and  was  one  year  wholly  deserted  ;  but  this 
year  the  people  have  taken  courage  and  dwell  upon 
it  again. 

In  this  place  after  the  great  earthquake,  there  was 
some  eruption  out  of  the  earth,  which  left  a  great 
hiatus  or  cleft  a  great  way  together,  and  out  of  some 
cavities  under  great  rocks,  by  a  great  pond  in  that 
place,  there  was  a  great  while  after  often  heard  an 


SOME    INDIAN   TOWNS.  43 

humming  noise,  as  if  there  were  frequent  eruptions 
out  of  the  ground  at  that  place  :  yet  for  healthfulness 
the  place  is  much  as  other  places  be.  For  religion, 
there  be  amongst  them  some  godly  christians,  who 
are  received  into  the  church,  and  baptized,  and 
others  looking  that  way. 

Panatuket  is  the  upper  part  of  Merimak- Falls  ;  so 
called,  because  of  the  noise  which  the  waters  make. 
Thither  the  Penagwog-Indians  are  come,  and  have 
built  a  great  fort  ;  their  sachems  refused  to  pray  to 
God,  so  signally  and  sinfully,  that  Captain  Gookin 
and  myself  were  very  sensible  of  it,  and  were  not 
without  some  expectation  of  some  interposure  of  a 
Divine  Hand,  which  did  eminently  come  to  pass  ; 
for  in  the  forenamed  expedition  they  joined  with  the 
northern  sachems,  and  were  all  of  them  cut  off; 
even  all  that  had  so  signally  refused  to  pray  unto 
God  were  now  as  signally  rejected  by  God,  and  cut 
off.  I  hear  not  that  it  was  ever  known,  that  so 
many  sachems  and  men  of  note  were  killed  in  one 
imprudent  expedition,  and  that  by  a  few  scattered 
people ;  for  the  Mauquaogs  were  not  imbodied  to 
receive  them,  nor  prepared,  and  few  at  home,  which 
did  much  greaten  the  overthrow  of  so  many  great 
men,  and  shews  a  divine  over-ruling  hand  of  God. 
But  now,  since  the  Penaguog-Sachems  are  cut  off, 
the  people  (sundry  of  them)  dwelling  at  Panatuket- 
Fort  do  bow  the  ear  to  hear,  and  submit  to  pray  unto 
God  ;  to  whom  Jethro,  after  he  had  confest  Christ 
and  was  baptized,  was  sent  to  preach  Christ  to  them. 


44  JOHN    ELIOT. 

A    LETTER    FROM    ELIOT    TO    HON. 
ROBERT    BOYLE. 

ROXBURY,     April  22,   1 684. 

Right  Honorable  and  Indefatigable  Benefactors  : 
This  last  gift  of  four  hundred  pounds  for  the  reim- 
pression  of  the  Indian  Bible  doth  set  a  diadem  of 
beauty  upon  all  your  former  acts  of  pious  charity, 
and  commandeth  us  to  return  unto  your  Honors  all 
thankful  acknowledgments,  according  to  our  abilities. 
It  pleased  the  worshipful  Mr.  Stoughton  to  give  me 
an  intimation,  that  your  honors  desired  to  know  the 
particular  present  estate  of  the  praying  Indians  ;  and 
also,  when  Moses's  Pentateuch  is  printed,  to  have 
some  copies  sent  over,  to  evidence  the  real  and  good 
progress  of  the  work. 

Your  Honor's  intimation  hath  the  force  of  a  com- 
mand upon  me,  and  therefore  I  shall  briefly  relate 
the  religious  walking  and  ways  of  the  praying  Indians. 
They  do  diligently  observe  and  keep  the  Sabbath,  in 
all  the  places  of  their  public  meetings  to  worship 
God.  The  example  of  the  English  churches,  and 
the  authority  of  the  English  laws,  which  Major 
Gookin  doth  declare  unto  them,  together  with  such 
mulcts,  as  are  inflicted  upon  transgressors  ;  as  also 
and  especially,  the  clear  and  express  command  of 
God,  which  they  and  their  children  learn  and  re- 
hearse daily  in  their  catechisms  ;  these  all  together 
have  fully  possessed  and  convinced  them  of  their 
duty,  to  keep  holy  the  Sabbath  day.  So  that  the 
sanctifying  of  the  Sabbath  is  a  great  and  eminent  part 
of  their  religion.      And  though  some  of  the  vain  and 


LETTER  TO  HON.  ROBERT  BOYLE.   45 

carnal  sort  among  them  are  not  so  girt  to  it,  as  were 
to  be  desired,  yet  the  grave  and  religious  sort  do 
constantly  worship  God,  every  Sabbath  day,  both 
morning  and  evening,  as  the  English  do.    .    .    . 

Moreover,  Major  Gookin  hath  dedicated  his  eldest 
son,  Mr.  Daniel  Gookin,  unto  this  service  of  Christ  ; 
he  is  a  pious  and  learned  young  man,  about  thirty- 
three  years  old,  hath  been  eight  years  a  fellow  of  the 
college  ;  he  hath  taught  and  trained  up  two  classes 
of  our  young  scholars  unto  their  commencement  ;  he 
is  a  man,  whose  abilities  are  above  exception,  though 
not  above  envy.  His  father,  with  his  inclination, 
advised  him  to  Sherburne,  a  small  village  near  Na- 
tick,  whose  meeting-house  is  about  three  miles,  more 
or  less,  from  Natick  meeting-house.  Mr.  Gookin 
holdeth  a  lecture  in  Natick  meeting-house  once  a 
month  ;  which  lecture,  many  English,  especially  of 
Sherburne,  do  frequent.  He  first  preacheth  in  Eng- 
lish, to  the  English  audience,  and  then  the  same  mat- 
ter is  delivered  to  the  Indians,  by  an  interpreter, 
whom,  with  much  pains,  Mr.  Gookin  hath  fore-pre- 
pared. We  apprehend,  that  this  will  (by  God's 
blessing)  be  a  means  to  enable  the  Indians  to  under- 
stand religion  preached  in  the  English  tongue,  and 
will  much  further  Mr.  Gookin  in  learning  the  Ind- 
ian tongue.  Likewise  Major  Gookin  holdeth  and 
manageth  his  courts  in  the  English  tongue  ;  which 
doth  greatly  further  the  Indians  in  learning  law  and 
government  in  the  English  tongue  ;  which  is  a  point 
of  wisdom  in  civilizing  them,  that  your  Honors  have 
manifested  your  desires,  that  it  might  be  attended. 

As  for  the  sending  any  numbers  of  Moses's  Penta- 
teuch, I  beseech  your  Honors  to  spare  us  in  that  ; 


46  JOHN    ELIOT. 

because  so  many  as  we  send,  so  many  Bibles  are 
maimed,  and  made  incomplete,  because  they  want 
the  five  books  of  Moses.  We  present  your  Honors 
with  one  book,  so  far  as  we  have  gone  in  the  work, 
aa  1  humbly  beseech,  that  it  may  be  acceptable,  un- 
\'d  the  whole  be  finished  ;  and  then  the  whole  im- 
o  ai  ion  (which  is  two  thousand)  is  at  your  Honors 
mimand.  Our  slow  progress  needeth  an  apology. 
vVe  have  been  much  hindered  by  the  sickness  this 
car.  Our  workmen  have  been  all  sick,  and  we 
luve  but  few  hands,  one  Englishman,  and  a  boy, 
itid  one  Indian  ;  and  many  interruptions  and  diver- 
ions  do  befall  us  ;  and  we  could  do  but  little  this 
very  hard  winter.  But  I  shall  give  your  Honors  no 
further  trouble  at  this  time,  only  requesting  the  con- 
tinuance of  your  prayers  and  protection.  So  I 
remain, 

Your  Honors'  to  serve  you  in  our  Lord  Jesus, 

John   Eliot. 


MICHAEL  WIGGLESWORTH. 

Michael  Wigglesworth,  the  most  popular  of 
early  New  England  poets,  was  born  in  England, 
probably  in  Yorkshire  in  163  1,  and  died  in  1705,  at 
Maiden,  Massachusetts,  where  he  had  been  for  nearly 
fifty  years  pastor.  He  was  of  sturdy  Puritan  parent- 
age, was  brought  by  his  father  to  Charlestown  when 
he  was  but  seven  years  old,  and  soon  taken  thence  to 
New  Haven.  Here  he  was  fitted  for  Harvard,  from 
which  he  graduated  in  the  class  of  165  1.  He  taught 
there  as  tutor  till  1654,  preaching  occasionally  in 
Charlestown  and  in  Maiden.  He  was  called  to  the 
latter  place  in  1654,  but  not  actually  ordained  till  two 
years  later.  Meantime  his  father  had  died.  The 
son  in  his  autobiography  pays  a  warm  tribute  to  the 
father's  self-sacrifice  and  pious  trust  in  devoting  him 
to  the  ministry.  '«  God  let  him  live  to  see  how 
acceptable  to  himself  this  service  was  in  giving  his 
only  son  to  God  and  bringing  him  up  to  learning.,, 

The  father's  health  had  been  frail,  and  the  son  seems 
to  have  inherited  a  feeble  constitution.  Ill-health  de- 
layed his  ordination  as  we  have  seen,  and  it  frequently 
interrupted  his  ministry.  It  was  during  these  periods 
of  enforced  leisure  that  he  composed  his  doggerel 
epitome  of  Calvinistic  theology,  The  Day  of  Doom 
or    a    Poetical  Description   of  the   Great   and  Last 

47 


48  MICHAEL   WIGGLESWORTH. 

Judgment.  This  was  first  published  in  1662,  and 
attained  immediately  a  phenomenal  popularity.  Eigh- 
teen hundred  copies  were  sold  within  a  year,  and  for 
the  next  century  it  held  a  secure  place  in  Puritan 
households.  As  late  as  1828  it  was  stated  that  many 
aged  persons  were  still  alive  who  could  repeat  it,  as  it 
had  been  taught  them  with  their  catechism  ;  and  the 
more  widely  one  reads  in  the  voluminous  sermons 
of  that  generation,  the  more  fair  will  its  representa- 
tion of  prevailing  theology  in  New  England  appear. 
It  satisfied  for  that  age  a  taste  for  the  shudder  in 
literature,  a  taste  not  schooled  in  New  England  to 
demand  the  artistic  expression  which  had  been 
given  to  allied  themes  by  Dante  and  by  Milton. 
It  is  one  of  the  strange  ironies  of  literature,  that 
the  fierce  denunciations  of  the  reprobate,  and  the 
terrible  images  of  damnation  with  which  the  poem 
abounds,  should  have  been  penned  by  a  man  whom 
we  know  to  have  been  in  life  a  frail  and  genial 
philanthropist,  so  cheerful  that  some  of  his  friends 
thought  he  could  not  be  so  sick  as  he  averred.  Dr. 
Peabody  used  to  call  him  "  a  man  of  the  beatitudes," 
ministering  not  alone  to  the  spiritual  but  to  the  physi- 
cal needs  of  his  flock,  having  studied  medicine  for  that 
purpose.  He  found  favor  even  with  the  gentler  sex, 
for  he  was  at  least  thrice  married,  to  Mary  Reyner, 
Martha  Mudge,  and  Sybil  (Avery)  Sparhawk.  His 
descendants  played  an  honorable  part  in  the  history  of 
New  England. 

Beside  the  Day  of  Doom,  Wigglesworth  wrote 
God*  s  Controversy  with  New  England,  and  a 
very  popular  meditation  on  the  W  Necessity,  End, 
and  Usefulness  of  Affliction,"  which  he  called  Meat 


THE   DAY    OF   DOOM.  ,1,9 

out  of  the  Eater.      The  following  epitaph  upon  him 
is  attributed  to  Cotton  Mather  :  — 

M  His  pen  did  once  Meat  from  the  Eater  take 
And  now  he's  gone  beyond  the  Eater's  reach. 
His  body  once  so  thin  was  next  to  none 
From  hence  he's  to  unbodied  spirits  flown. 
Once  his  rare  skill  did  all  diseases  heal 
And  he  doth  nothing  now  uneasy  feel. 
He  to  his  paradise  is  joyful  come 
And  waits  with  joy  to  see  his  Day  of  Doom." 


THE    DAY   OF   DOOM. 

To  the  Christian  Reader. 

Reader,  I  am  a  fool 

And  have  adventured 

To  play  the  fool  this  once  for  Christ, 

The  more  his  fame  to  spread. 

If  this  my  foolishness 

Help  thee  to  be  more  wise, 

I  have  attained  what  I  seek, 

And  what  I  only  prize. 

Thou  wonderest,  perhaps, 

That  I  in  print  appear, 

Who  to  the  pulpit  dwell  so  nigh. 

Yet  come  so  seldom  there. 

The  God  of  Heaven  knows 

What  grief  to  me  it  is, 

To  be  withheld  from  serving  Christ  ; 

No  sorrow  like  to  this. 


MICHAEL   WIGGLESWORTH. 

This  is  the  sorest  pain 

That  I  have  felt  or  feel  ; 

Yet  have  I  stood  some  shocks  that  might 

Make  stronger  men  to  reel. 

I  find  more  true  delight 

In  serving  of  the  Lord, 

Than  all  the  good  things  upon  Earth, 

Without  it,  can  afford. 

And  could  my  strength  endure 
That  work  I  count  so  dear, 
Not  all  the  riches  of  Peru 
Should  hire  me  to  forbear. 
But  I'm  a  prisoner, 
Under  a  heavy  chain  ; 
Almighty  God's  afflicting  hand 
Doth  me  by  force  restrain. 

Yet  some  (/  know)  do  judge 

Mine  inability 

To  come  abroad  and  do  Christ's  work. 

To  be  melancholy  ; 

And  that  I'm  not  so  weak 

As  I  myself  conceit  ; 

But  who  in  other  things  have  found 

Me  so  conceited  yet  ? 

Or  who  of  all  my  friends 
That  have  my  trials  seen, 
Can  tell  the  time  in  seven  years 
When  I  have  dumpish  been  ? 
Some  think  my  voice  is  strong, 


THE    DAY   OF    DOOM.  J I 

Most  times  when  I  do  preach  ; 
But  ten  days  after,  what  I  feel 
And  suffer  few  can  reach. 

My  prison' d  thoughts  break  forth, 
When  open'd  is  the  door, 
With  greater  force  and  violence, 
And  strain  my  voice  the  more. 
But  vainly  do  they  tell 
That  I  am  growing  stronger, 
Who  hear  me  speak  in  half  an  hour, 
Till  I  can  speak  no  longer. 

Some  for  because  they  see  not 

My  cheerfulness  to  fail, 

Nor  that  I  am  disconsolate, 

Do  think  I  nothing  ail. 

If  they  had  borne  my  griefs, 

Their  courage  might  have  fail'd  them, 

And  all  the  town  (perhaps)  have  known 

(Once  and  again)  what  aiFd  them. 

But  why  should  I  complain 

That  have  so  good  a  God, 

That  doth  mine  heart  with  comfort  fill 

Ev'n  whilst  I  feel  his  rod  ? 

In  God  I  have  been  strong, 

But  wearied  and  worn  out, 

And  joy'd  in  him,  when  twenty  woes 

Assail' d  me  round  about. 

Nor  speak  I  this  to  boast, 
But  make  apology 


MICHAEL   WIGGLESWORTH. 

For  mine  own  self,  and  answer  those 

That  fail  in  charity. 

I  am,  alas  !   as  frail, 

Impatient  a  creature, 

As  most  that  tread  upon  the  ground, 

And  have  as  bad  a  nature. 

Let  God  be  magnified, 
Whose  everlasting  strength 
Upholds  me  under  sufferings 
Of  more  than  ten  years*  length  ; 
Through  whose  Almighty  pow'r, 
Although  I  am  surrounded 
With  sorrows  more  than  can  be  told, 
Yet  am  I  not  confounded. 

For  his  dear  sake  have  I 

This  service  undertaken, 

For  I  am  bound  to  honor  him 

Who  hath  not  me  forsaken. 

I  am  a  debtor,  too, 

Unto  the  sons  of  men, 

Whom,  wanting  other  means,  I  would 

Advantage  with  my  pen. 

I  would,  but  ah  !  my  strength, 
When  tried,  proves  so  small, 
That  to  the  ground  without  effect 
My  wishes  often  fall. 
Weak  heads,  and  hands,  and  states, 
Great  things  cannot  produce  ; 
And  therefore  I  this  little  piece 
Have  publish' d  for  thine  use. 


THE    DAY    OF   DOOM.  53 

Although  the  thing  be  small, 

Yet  my  good  will  therein 

Is  nothing  less  than  if  it  had 

A  larger  volume  been. 

Accept  it  then  in  love, 

And  read  it  for  thy  good  ; 

There's  nothing  in't  can  do  thee  hurt, 

If  rightly  understood. 

The  God  of  Heaven  grant 

These  lines  so  well  to  speed, 

That  thou  the  things  of  thine  own  peace 

Through  them  may'st  better  heed  ; 

And  may'st  be  stirred  up 

To  stand  upon  thy  guard, 

That  Death  and  Judgment  may  not  come 

To  find  thee  unprepar'd. 

Oh,  get  a  part  in  Christ, 

And  make  the  Judge  thy  friend  ; 

So  shalt  thou  be  assured  of 

A  happy,  glorious  end. 

Thus  prays  thy  real  friend 

And  servant  for  Christ's  sake, 

Who,  had  he  strength,  would  not  refuse 

More  pains  for  thee  to  take. 


54  MICHAEL   WIGGLESWORTH. 

[Dooming  the   Reprobate  Infant.] 
(clxvi— clxxxi. ) 

Then  to  the  Bar  all  they  drew  near  Reprobate 

Who  died  in  infancy,  fo/S-^ 

And  never  had  or  good  or  bad  selves, 

effected  pers'nally  ;  Rev.  20:12, 

But  from  the  womb  unto  the  tomb  Compared 

were  straightway  carried,  with  Rom.  5, 

/  r\  11  1  *  i\  12,  14,  and 

(Or  at  the  least  ere  they  trangress  d)       o:n,  13 
who  thus  began  to  plead  :  *zek- lS" 2- 

"  If  for  our  own  transgressi-on, 

or  disobedience, 
We  here  did  stand  at  thy  left  hand, 

just  were  the  Recompense  ; 
But  Adam's  guilt  our  souls  hath  spilt, 

his  fault  is  charg'd  upon  us  ; 
And  that  alone  hath  overthrown 

and  utterly  undone  us. 

"Not  we,  but  he  ate  of  the  tree, 

whose  fruit  was  interdicted  ; 
Yet  on  us  all  of  his  sad  fall 

the  punishment's  inflicted. 
How  could  we  sin  that  had  not  been, 

or  how  is  his  sin  our, 
Without  consent,  which  to  prevent 

we  never  had  the  pow'r  ? 

'  O  great  Creator,  why  was  our  nature 
depraved  and  forlorn  ? 


THE    DAY    OF   DOOM. 


55 


Why  so  defil'd,  and  made  so  vil'd, 
whilst  we  were  yet  unborn  ? 

If  it  be  just,  and  needs  we  must 
transgressors  reckon' d  be, 

Thy  mercy,  Lord,  to  us  afford, 
which  sinners  hath  set  free. 


Psal.Si:5. 


"  Behold  we  see  Adam  set  free, 

and  sav'd  from  his  trespass, 
Whose  sinful  fall  hath  split  us  all, 

and  brought  us  to  this  pass. 
Canst  thou  deny  us  once  to  try, 

Or  grace  to  us  to  tender, 
When  he  finds  grace  before  thy  face 

who  was  the  chief  offender  ?  ' ' 


Then  answered  the  Judge  most  dread  : 

"  God  doth  such  doom  forbid, 
That  men  should  die  eternally 

for  what  they  never  did. 
But  what  you  call  old  Adam's  fall, 

and  only  his  trespass, 
You  call  amiss  to  call  it  his, 

both  his  and  yours  it  was. 


Their 
arguments 
taken  off. 
Ezek.  18:  20. 
Rom. 
5:  12,  19. 


He  was  design' d  of  all  mankind 

to  be  a  public  head  ; 

A  common  root,  whence  all  should 

1  Cor. 

shoot, 

15:48,49. 

and  stood  in  all  their  stead. 

He  stood  and  fell,  did  ill  or  well, 

not  for  himself  alone, 

56  MICHAEL  WIGGLESWORTH. 

But  for  you  all,  who  now  his  Fall 
and  trespass  would  disown. 

"If  he  had  stood,  then  all  his  brood 

had  been  established 
In  God's  true  love  never  to  move, 

nor  once  awry  to  tread  ; 
Then  all  his  race  my  Father's  grace 

should  have  enjoy' d  for  ever 
And  wicked  sprites  by  subtile  sleights 

could  them  have  harmed  never. 

".  Would  you  have  griev'd  to  have  receiv'd 

through  Adam  so  much  good, 
As  had  been  your  for  evermore, 

if  he  at  first  had  stood  ? 
Would  you  have  said,  *  We  ne'er  obey'd 

nor  did  thy  laws  regard  ; 
It  ill  befits,  with  benefits, 

us,  Lord,  to  so  reward  ? ' 

"  Since  then  to  share  in  his  welfare, 

you  could  have  been  content, 
You  may  with  reason  share  in  his  treason, 

and  in  the  punishment, 
Hence  you  were  born  in  state  forlorn,      Rom.  5:12 

with  natures  so  depraved  Gen.  5?3.5 

Death  was  your  due  because  that  you 

had  thus  yourselves  behaved. 

M  You  think  « If  we  had  been  as  he 
whom  God  did  so  betrust, 


THE   DAY   OF   DOOM.  57 

We  to  our  cost  would  ne'er  have  lost 

all  for  a  paltry  lust.' 
Had  you  been  made  in  Adam's  stead,      Mat. 

you  would  like  things  have  wrought,    *3:3°' 3I* 
And  so  into  the  self-same  woe 

yourselves  and  yours  have  brought. 

*«  I  may  deny  you  once  to  try, 

or  grace  to  you  to  tender, 
Though  he  finds  grace  before  my  face 

who  was  the  chief  offender  ;  Rom- 

Else  should  my  grace  cease  to  be  grace,     The  free  gift. 

for  it  would  not  be  free,  Rom-  5:i5* 

If  to  release  whom  I  should  please 

I  have  no  liberty. 

"  If  upon  one  what's  due  to  none 

I  frankly  shall  bestow, 
And  on  the  rest  shall  not  think  best 

compassion's  skirt  to  throw, 
Whom  injure  I  ?     Will  you  envy 

and  grudge  at  others'  weal  ? 
Or  me  accuse,  who  do  refuse 

yourselves  to  help  and  heal  ? 

'«  Am  I  alone  of  what's  my  own, 

no  master  or  no  lord  ? 
And  if  I  am,  how  can  you  claim  Mat.  20:15. 

what  I  to  some  afford  ? 
Will  you  demand  grace  at  my  hand,  and 

challenge  what  is  mine  ? 
Will  you  teach  me  whom  to  set  free, 

and  thus  my  grace  confine  ? 


58 


MICHAEL   WIGGLESWORTH. 


c<  You  sinners  are,  and  such  a  share 

as  sinners  may  expect  ; 
Such  you  shall  have,  for  I  do  save 

none  but  mine  own  Elect. 
Yet  to  compare  your  sin  with  their 

who  liv'd  a  longer  time, 
I  do  confess  yours  is  much  less 

though  every  sin's  a  crime. 


Psal.  58:8. 
Rom.  6:23. 
Gal.  3:10. 
Rom.  8:29, 
30  and  11:7. 
Rev.  21:27. 
Luke 
12:14,  8. 
Mat.  11:22. 


A  crime  it  is,  therefore,  in  bliss 
you  may  not  hope  to  dwell  ; 

But  unto  you  I  shall  allow 
the  easiest  room  in  Hell." 


The  wicked 
all 

convinced 
and  put  to 
silence. 
Rom.  3:19. 
Mat.  22:12. 


[Dissolving  Domestic  Ties.] 
(cxcv.— cc.) 

Unto  the  Saints  with  sad  complaints 

should  they  themselves  apply  ? 
They're  not  dejected  nor  aught  affected 

with  all  their  misery. 
Friends  stand   aloof  and  make  no   proof 

what  prayers  or  tears  can  do  ; 
Your  Godly  friends  are  now  more  friends 

to  Christ  than  unto  you. 


Rev.  21:4. 
Psal.  58:10. 


Where  tender  love  men's  hearts  did  move 

unto  a  sympathy, 
And  bearing  part  of  others'  smart 

in  their  anxiety, 


1  Cor.  6:2. 


THE    DAY   OF   DOOM.  59 

Now  such   compassion  is  out  of  fashion, 

and  wholly  laid  aside  ; 
No  friends  so  near,  but  Saints  to  hear 

their  Sentence  can  abide. 


One  natural  brother  beholds  another 

in  his  astonied  fit, 
Yet  sorrows  not  thereat  a  jot,  Compare 

nor  pities  him  a  whit.  w[°h'  rs 

The  godly  wife  conceives  no  grief  j  J?hn3 : 

nor  can  she  shed  a  tear  5 

For  the  sad  state  of  her  dear  mate 

when  she  his  doom  doth  hear. 


or. 


He  that  was  erst  a  husband  pierc'd 

with  sense  of  wife's  distress, 
Whose  tender  heart  did  bear  a  part 

of  all  her  grievances. 
Shall  mourn  no  more  as  heretofore, 

because  of  her  ill  plight, 
Although  he  see  her  now  to  be 

a  damn'd  forsaken  wight. 

The  tender  mother  will  own  no  other 

of  all  her  num'rous  brood 
But  such  as  stand  at  Christ's  right  hand, 

acquitted  through  his  Blood.  Luke  16: 25. 

The  pious  father  had  now  much  rather 

his  graceless  son  should  lie 
In  hell  with  devils,  for  all  his  evils, 

burning  eternally. 


60  MICHAEL   WIGGLESWORTH. 

Than  God  most  High  should   injury 

by  sparing  him  sustain  ; 
And  doth  rejoice  to  hear  Christ's  voice,   Psal.  58:  ia 

adjudging  him  to  pain. 


JOHN   JOSSELYN. 

John  Josselyn,  an  English  traveller  in  New  England 
and  a  writer  of  almost  incredible  credulity,  was  the  son 
of  Sir  Thomas  Josselyn  of  Kent,  where  he  was  born 
early  in  the  seventeenth  century.  The  time  of  his  death 
is  uncertain.  He  visited  New  England  first  in  July, 
1638,  when  he  "  presented  his  respects  to  Mr.  Win- 
throp  the  Governor  and  to  Mr.  Cotton  the  preacher  of 
Boston  Church,  to  whom  he  delivered  from  Mr.  Fran- 
cis Quarles,  the  poet,  the  translation  of  several  psalms 
in  English  metre."  He  sojourned  fifteen  months  in 
the  colony,  and  revisited  it  twenty-four  years  later, 
remaining  eight  years.  On  his  return  in  1671,  he 
published  New  England's  Rarities,  discovered  in 
Birds,  Beasts,  Fishes,  Serpents,  and  Plants  of  that 
Country,  with  a  picture  of  Boston  in  1663.  This 
volume  was  reprinted  with  notes  by  Edward  Tucker- 
man  in  1865.  Josselyn  wrote  also  An  Account  of 
Two  Voyages  to  New  England,  and  a  compilation 
of  The  Most  Remarkable  Passages  from  the  First 
Discovery  of  the  Continent  of  America  to  l6yj,  re- 
printed with  New  England's  Rarities  (  1  865).  He  is 
frank  in  criticism,  somewhat  affected  in  style.  His 
interest  is  more  in  the  curiosities  of  nature  than  in 
questions  of  religious  or  social  polity.  His  eredulous- 
ness  rises  almost  to  genius,  as  when  he  tells  us  that 
the  Indians  disputed  "in  perfect  hexameter  verse." 
61 


62  JOHN   JOSSELYN. 

The  hornets'  nest  mistaken  for  a  rare  fruit  and  gathered 
with  disastrous  results,  as  may  be  seen  in  our  extract, 
has  been  made  familiar  by  the  verses  of  Longfellow. 


JOSSELYN'S    FIRST    EXPERIENCES. 

[From  «<  An  Account  of  Two  Voyages  to  New 
England."      1675.] 

1637.  May,  which  fell  out  to  be  extreme  hot 
and  foggy.  About  the  middle  of  May  I  killed  within 
a  stone's  throw  of  our  house  above  four  score  snakes, 
some  of  them  as  big  as  the  small  of  my  leg,  black  of 
color,  and  three  yards  long,  with  a  sharp  horn  on  the 
tip  of  their  tail  two  inches  in  length. 

June,  the  sixth  and  twentieth  day,  very  stormy, 
lightning  and  thunder.  I  heard  now  two  of  the 
greatest  and  fearfullest  thunder  claps  that  ever  were 
heard,  I  am  confident. 

At  this  time  we  had  some  neighboring  gentlemen 
in  our  house,  who  came  to  welcome  me  into  the 
country  ;  where  amongst  variety  of  discourse  they 
told  me  of  a  young  lion  (not  long  before)  killed  at 
Piscataway  by  an  Indian  ;  of  a  sea-serpent  or  snake, 
that  lay  coiled  up  like  a  cable  upon  a  rock  at  Cape 
Ann  :  a  boat  passing  by  with  English  aboard,  and 
two  Indians,  they  would  have  shot  the  serpent,  but 
the  Indians  dissuaded  them,  saying,  that  if  he  were 
not  killed  outright,  they  would  be  all  in  danger  of 
their  lives. 

One  Mr.  Mittin  related  of  a  triton  or  merman 
which  he  saw  in  Casco  Bay.      This  gentleman  was  a 


JOSSELYN'S   FIRST   EXPERIENCES.      63 

great  fowler,  and  used  to  go  out  with  a  small  boat  or 
canoe,  and  fetching  a  compass  about  a  small  island 
(there  being  many  small  islands  in  the  bay),  for  the 
advantage  of  a  shot,  was  encountered  with  a  triton, 
who  laying  his  hands  upon  the  side  of  the  canoe,  had 
one  of  them  chopt  off  with  a  hatchet  by  Mr.  Mittin, 
which  was  in  all  respects  like  the  hand  of  a  man. 
The  triton  presently  sunk,  dyeing  the  water  with  his 
purple  blood,  and  was  no  more  seen.  The  next 
story  was  told  by  Mr.  Foxwell,  now  living  in  the 
province  of  Maine,  who  having  been  to  the  eastward 
in  a  shallop,  as  far  as  Cape  Anna-waggon,  in  his 
return  was  overtaken  by  the  night,  and  fearing  to 
land  upon  the  barbarous  shore,  he  put  off  a  little 
further  to  sea.  About  midnight  they  were  wakened 
with  a  loud  voice  from  the  shore,  calling  upon 
"  Foxwell,  Foxwell  !  come  ashore  !"  two  or  three 
times.  Upon  the  sands  they  saw  a  great  fire,  and 
men  and  women  hand  in  hand  dancing  round  about 
it  in  a  ring.  After  an  hour  or  two  they  vanished, 
and  as  soon  as  the  day  appeared,  Foxwell  puts  into  a 
small  cove,  it  being  about  three  quarters  flood,  and 
traces  along  the  shore,  where  he  found  the  footing  of 
men,  women  and  children  shod  with  shoes  ;  and  an 
infinite  number  of  brands  ends  thrown  up  by  the 
water,  but  neither  Indian  nor  English  could  he  meet 
with  on  the  shore,  nor  in  the  woods.  These  with 
many  other  stories  they  told  me,  the  credit  whereof 
I  will  neither  impeach  nor  enforce,  but  shall  satisfy 
myself,  and  I  hope  the  reader  hereof,  with  the  saying 
of  a  wise,  learned  and  honorable  knight,  that  "there 
are  many  stranger  things  in  the  world,  than  are  to  be 
seen  between  London  and  Stanes."    .   .   . 


64  JOHN  JOSSELYN. 

.  .  .  In  the  afternoon  [Oct.  2]  I  walked  into 
the  woods  on  the  back  side  of  the  house,  and  happen- 
ing into  a  fine  broad  walk  (which  was  a  sledge-way) 
I  wandered  till  I  chanced  to  spy  a  fruit  as  I  thought 
like  a  pine-apple  plated  with  scales.  It  was  as  big  as 
the  crown  o{  a  woman's  hat.  I  made  bold  to  step 
unto  it,  with  an  intent  to  have  gathered  it.  No 
sooner  had  I  touched  it,  but  hundreds  of  wasps 
were  about  me.  At  last  I  cleared  myself  from 
them,  being  stung  only  by  one  upon  the  upper  lip. 
Glad  I  was  that  I  escaped  so  well ;  but  by  that 
time  I  was  come  into  the  house  my  lip  was  swelled 
so  extremely,  that  they  hardly  knew  me  but  by  my 
garments. 


ITEMS    FROM '  HIS   SECOND    ACCOUNT. 

...  So  fared  it  with  me,  that  having  escaped 
the  dangers  of  one  voyage,  must  needs  put  on  a  reso- 
lution for  a  second,  wherein  I  plowed  many  a  churlish 
billow  with  little  or  no  advantage,  but  rather  to  my 
loss  and  detriment.  In  the  setting  down  whereof  I 
purpose  not  to  insist  on  a  methodical  way,  but  accord- 
ing to  my  quality,  in  a  plain  and  brief  relation  as  I 
have  done  already ;  for  I  perceive,  if  I  used  all  the  art 
that  possibly  I  could,  it  would  be  difficult  to  please 
all,  for  all  men's  eyes,  ears,  faith,  judgment,  are  not 
of  a  size.  There  be  a  sort  of  stagnant  stinking  spirits, 
who,  like  flies,  lie  sucking  at  the  botches  of  carnal 
pleasures,  and  never  travelled  so  much  sea  as  is  between 
Hethferry  and  Lyon-Key  ;  yet  notwithstanding,  (sit- 
ting in  the  chair  of  the  scornful  over  their  whifts  and 


HIS   SECOND   ACCOUNT.  65 

drafts  of  intoxication)  will  desperately  censure  the 
relations  of  the  greatest  travellers. 

It  was  a  good  proviso  of  a  learned  man,  never  to 
report  wonders,  for  in  so  doing,  of  the  greatest  he 
will  be  sure  not  to  be  believed,  but  laughed  at  ;  which 
certainly  bewrays  their  ignorance  and  want  of  dis- 
cretion. Of  fools  and  madmen,  then,  I  shall  take  no 
care.  I  will  not  invite  these  in  the  least  to  honor 
me  with  a  glance  from  their  supercilious  eyes  ;  but 
rather  advise  them  to  keep  their  inspection  for  their 
fine-tongued  romances  and  plays.  This  homely  piece, 
I  protest  ingenuously,  is  prepared  for  such  only  who 
well  know  how  to  make  use  of  their  charitable  con- 
structions towards  works  of  this  nature,  to  whom  I 
submit  myself  in  all  my  faculties.    .    .    . 

There  is  an  admirable  rare  creature  in  shape  like  a 
buck,  with  horns,  of  a  gummy  substance,  which  I 
have  often  found  in  the  fall  of  the  leaf  upon  the 
ground  amongst  the  withered  leaves  ;  a  living  creature 
I  cannot  call  it,  having  only  the  sign  of  a  mouth  and 
eyes.  Seldom  or  never  shall  you  meet  with  any  of 
them  whole,  but  the  head  and  horns,  or  the  hinder 
parts,  broken  off  from  the  rest.  The  Indians  call 
them  tree  bucks,  and  have  a  superstitious  saying  (for 
I  believe  they  never  see  any  of  them  living)  that  if 
they  can  see  a  tree  buck  walking  upon  the  branches 
of  an  oak  when  they  go  out  in  a  morning  to  hunt, 
they  shall  have  good  luck  that  day.  What  they  are 
good  for  I  know  not,  but  certainly  there  is  some 
more  than  ordinary  virtue  in  them.  It  is  true  that 
nothing  in  nature  is  superfluous,  and  we  have  the 
Scripture  to  back  it,  that  God  created  nothing  in 
vain.      The  like  creatures  they  have  at  the  Barbadoes 


66  JOHN   JOSSELYN. 

which  they  call  Negroes'  heads,  found  in  the  sands, 
about  two  inches  long,  with  forehead,  eyes,  nose, 
mouth,  chin,  and  part  of  the  neck,  they  are  always 
found  loose  in  the  sands  without  any  root,  it  is  as 
black  as  jet,  but  whence  it  comes  they  know  not.  I 
have  read  likewise,  that  in  the  Canaries  or  Fortunate 
Islands,  there  is  found  a  certain  creature,  which  boys 
bring  home  from  the  mountains  as  oft  as  they  would, 
and  named  them  Tudesquels  or  little  Germans  :  for 
they  were  dried  dead  carcasses,  almost  three-footed, 
which  any  boy  did  easily  carry  in  one  of  the  palms 
of  his  hand,  and  they  were  of  an  human  shape  ;  but 
the  whole  dead  carcass  was  clearly  like  unto  parch- 
ment, and  their  bones  were  flexible,  as  it  were 
gristles  ;  against  the  sun,  also,  their  bowels  and  intes- 
tines were  seen.  '<  Surely,"  saith  my  author,  "the 
destroyed  race  of  the  Pigmies  was  there." 

There  is  also  many  times  found  upon  the  leaves  of 
the  oak  a  creature  like  a  frog,  being  as  thin  as  a  leaf, 
and  transparent,  as  yellow  as  gold,  with  little  fiery 
red  eyes,  the  English  call  them  tree-frogs  or  tree- 
toads.    .    .    . 

The  toad  is  of  two  sorts,  one  that  is  speckled  with 
white,  and  another  of  a  dark  earthy  color  ;  there  is 
of  them  that  will  climb  up  into  trees  and  sit  croak- 
ing there  ;  but  whether  it  be  of  a  third  sort,  or 
one  of  the  other,  or  both,  I  am  not  able  to  affirm  ; 
but  this  I  can  testify  that  there  be  toads  of  the  dark 
colored  kind  that  are  as  big  as  a  great  loaf.  Which 
report  will  not  swell  into  the  belief  of  my  sceptic 
sirs  ;  nor  that  there  is  a  hell,  being  like  Solomon's 
fool,  Prov.  xxvi.  22. 

The  country  is  strangely  incommodated  with  flies, 


DESCRIPTION   OF   AN    INDIAN    SQUAW.    67 

which  the  English  call  Musketaes,  they  are  like  our 
gnats,  they  will  sting  so  fiercely  in  summer  as  to 
make  the  faces  of  the  English  swelled  and  scabby,  as 
of  the  small  pox  for  the  first  year.  Likewise  there 
is  a  small  black  fly  no  bigger  than  a  flea,  so  numerous 
up  in  the  country,  that  a  man  cannot  draw  his  breath, 
but  that  he  will  suck  of  them  in  ;  they  continue  about 
thirty  days  say  some  but  I  say  three  months,  and  are 
not  only  a  pesterment  but  a  plague  to  the  country. 


FROM  NEW    ENGLAND'S   RARITIES    DIS- 
COVERED.     1672. 

A  Perfect  Description  of  an  Indian  Squaw  in  All 
her  Bravery  ;  with  a  Poem  not  improperly 
conferred  upon  her. 

Now,  gentle  Reader,  having  trespassed  upon  your 
patience  a  long  while  in  the  perusing  of  these  rude 
observations,  I  shall,  to  make  you  amends,  present 
you  by  way  of  divertisement  or  recreation,  with  a 
copy  of  verses  made  some  time  since  upon  the  picture 
of  a  young  and  handsome  gypsy,  not  improperly 
transferred  upon  the  Indian  Squaw,  or  female  Indian, 
tricked  up  in  all  her  bravery. 

.  .  .  The  Men  are  somewhat  horse-faced,  and 
generally  faucious,  i.e.  without  beards  ;  but  the 
Women  many  of  them  have  very  good  features  ; 
seldom  without  a  "Come  to  me,"  or  Cos  Amor is , 
in  their  countenance.  All  of  them  black-eyed,  hav- 
ing even,   short  teeth,    and   very    white  ;    their    hair 


68  JOHN  JOSSELYN. 

olack,  thick,  and  long  ;  broad-breasted,  handsome, 
straight  bodies,  and  slender,  considering  their  constant 
loose  habit  ;  their  limbs  cleanly,  straight,  and  ol  a 
convenient  stature,  generally  as  plump  as  partridges, 
and  having  here  and  there  one  of  a  modest  deportment. 
Their  garments  are  a  pair  of  sleeves  of  deer,  or 
moose  skin  drest,  and  drawn  with  lines  of  several 
color  into  Asiatic  works,  with  buskins  of  the  same, 
a  shiyf"  mantle  of  trading  cloth,  either  blue  or  red, 
fastened  with  a  knot  under  the  chin  and  girt  about 
the  middle  with  a  zone,  wrought  with  white  and 
blue  beads  into  pretty  works.  Of  these  beads  they 
have  bracelets  for  their  neck  and  arms,  and  links  to 
hang  in  their  ears,  and  a  fair  table  curiously  made  up 
with  beads  likewise,  to  wear  before  their  breast. 
Their  hair  they  comb  backward,  and  tie  it  up  short 
with  a  border  about  two  handfuls  broad,  wrought  in 
works  as  the  other  with  their  beads.  But  enough  of 
this. 

The  Poem. 

Whether  White  or  Black  be  best 
Call  your  senses  to  the  quest  ; 
And  your  touch  shall  quickly  tell 
The  Black  in  softness  doth  excel 
And  in  smoothness  ;   but  the  ear, 
What,  can  that  a  color  hear  ? 
No,  but  't  is  your  Black  one's  wit 
That  doth  catch  and  captive  it. 
And  if  Slut  and  Fair  be  one, 
Sweet  and  Fair,  there  can  be  none  ; 
Nor  can  aught  so  please  the  taste 
As  what's  brown  and  lovely  drest. 


NEW    ENGLAND'S    LAWS.  69 

And  who  '11  say  that  that  is  best 

To  please  one's  sense,  displease  the  rest? 

Maugre  then  all  that  can  be  said 

In  flattery  of  White  and  Red  ; 

Those  flatterers  themselves  must  say 

That  darkness  was  before  the  day  ; 

And  such  perfection  here  appears, 

It  neither  wind  nor  sunshine  fears. 


NEW  ENGLAND'S  LAWS  AND  WAYS,  AN 
UNSYMPATHETIC    VIEW. 

[From  the  Same.] 

.  .  .  Every  Town  sends  two  burgesses  to  their 
great  and  solemn  general  court. 

For  being  drunk,  they  either  whip  or  impose  a 
fine  of  five  shillings  ;  so  for  swearing  and  cursing,  or 
boring  through  the    tongue  with    a   hot  iron. 

For  kissing  a  woman  in  the  street,  though  in  way 
of  civil  salute,  whipping  or  a  fine.    .    .    . 

Scolds  they  gag  and  set  them  at  their  doors  for 
certain  hours,  for  all  comers  and  goers  by  to  gaze  at. 

Stealing  is  punished  with  restoring  fourfold,  if 
able  ;  if  not,  they  are  sold  for  some  years,  and  so  are 
poor  debtors. 

If  you  desire  a  further  inspection  to  their  laws,  for 
I  must  refer  you  to  them  being  in  print,  too  many  to 
be  inserted  into  this  relation. 

The  governments  of  their  churches  are  Independent 
and  Presbyterial,  every  church  (for  so  they  call  their 


70  JOHN   JOSSELYN. 

particular  congregations)  have  one  pastor,  one  teacher, 
ruling  elders  and  deacons. 

They  that  are  members  of  their  churches  have  the 
sacraments  administred  to  them,  the  rest  that  are  out 
of  the  pale  as  they  phrase  it,  are  denied  it.  Many 
hundred  souls  there  be  amongst  them  grown  up  to 
men  and  women's  estate  that  were  never  christened. 

They  judge  every  man  and  woman  to  pay  five 
shillings  per  day,  who  comes  not  to  their  assemblies, 
and  impose  fines  of  forty  shillings  and  fifty  shillings 
on   such   as   meet  together   to   worship   God. 

Quakers  they  whip,  banish,  and  hang  if  they  re- 
turn again. 

Anabaptists  they  imprison,  fine  and  weary  out. 

The  government  both  civil  and  ecclesiastical  is  in 
the  hands  of  the  thorough-pac'd  Independents  and 
rigid   Presbyterians. 

The  gross  Goddons,  or  great  masters,  as  also  some 
of  their  merchants  are  damnable  rich  ;  generally  all 
of  their  judgment,  inexplicably  covetous  and  proud, 
they  receive  your  gifts  but  as  an  homage  or  tribute 
due  to  their  transcendency,  which  is  a  fault  their 
clergy  are  also  guilty  of,  whose  living  is  upon  the 
bounty  of  their  hearers.  On  Sundays  in  the  after- 
noon when  sermon  is  ended  the  people  in  the  gal- 
leries come  down  and  march  two  a-breast  up  one 
ai?le  and  down  the  other,  until  they  come  before  the 
desk,  for  pulpit  they  have  none  :  before  the  desk 
is  a  long  pew  where  the  Elders  and  Deacons  sit, 
one  of  them  with  a  money  box  in  his  hand,  into 
which  the  people  as  they  pass  put  their  offering, 
some  a  shilling,  some  two  shillings,  half  a  crown,  five 
shillings,    according   to   their    ability  and   good   will, 


NEW   ENGLAND'S    LAWS.  7 1 

after  this  they  conclude  with  a  Psalm  ;  but  this  by 
the  way. 

The  chiefest  objects  of  discipline,  religion,  and 
morality  they  want,  some  are  of  a  linsey-woolsey 
disposition,  of  several  professions  in  religion,  all  like 
^Ethiopians  white  in  the  Teeth,  only  full  of  ludifica- 
tion  and  injurious  dealing,  and  cruelty  the  extremest 
of  all  vices.  The  chiefest  cause  of  Noah's  flood, 
Prov.  27.  26.  Agni  erant  ad  vestitum  tuum,  is  a 
frequent  text  among  them,  no  trading  for  a  stranger 
with  them,  but  with  a  Grecian  faith,  which  is  not  to 
part  with  your  ware  without  ready  money,  for  they 
are  generally  in  their  payments  recusant  and  slow, 
great  syndies,  or  censors,  or  controllers  of  other  men's 
manners,   and   savagely    factious  amongst  themselves. 

There  are  many  strange  women  too,  (in  Solomon's 
sense),  more  the  pity  ;  when  a  woman  hath  lost  her 
chastity  she  hath  no  more  to  lose. 

But  mistake  me  not  to  general  speeches,  none 
but  the  guilty  take  exceptions,  there  are  many  sin- 
cere and  religious  people  amongst  them,  descried 
by  their  charity  and  humility  (the  true  charac- 
ters of  Christianity)  by  their  Zenodochy  or  hospi- 
tality, by  their  hearty  submission  to  their  sovereign 
the  King  of  England,  by  their  diligent  and  honest 
labor  in  their  callings,  amongst  these  we  may  account 
the  royalists,  who  are  looked  upon  with  an  evil  eye, 
and  tongue,  bolted  or  punished  if  they  chance  to  lash 
out  ;  the  tame  Indian  (for  so  they  call  those  that  are 
born  in  the  country)  are  pretty  honest  too,  and  may 
in  good  time  be  known  for  honest  King's  men. 

They  have  store  of  children,  and  are  well  accomo- 
dated with  servants  ;  many  hands  make  light  work, 


72  JOHN   JOSSELYN. 

many  hands  make  a  full  fraught,  but  many  mouths 
eat  up  all,  as  some  old  planters  have  experimented  ; 
of  these  some  are  English,  others  Negroes  :  of  the 
English  there  are  can  eat  till  they  sweat,  and  work 
till  they  freeze  ;  and  of  the  females  that  are  like  Mrs. 
Winter's  paddocks,  very  tender  flngerd  in  cold 
weather. 

There  are  none  that  beg  in  the  country,  but  there 
be  witches  too  many,  bottled-bellied  witches  amongst 
the  Quakers,  and  others  that  produce  many  strange 
apparitions  if  you  will  believe  report,  of  a  shallop  at 
sea  manned  with  women  ;  of  a  ship  and  a  great  red 
horse  standing  by  the  main-mast,  the  ship  being  in  a 
small  cove  to  the  east-ward  vanished  of  a  sudden. 
Of  a  witch  that  appeared  aboard  of  a  ship  twenty 
leagues  to  sea  to  a  mariner  who  took  up  the  carpen- 
ter's broad  axe  and  cleft  her  head  with  it,  the  witch 
dying  of  the  wound  at  home,  with  such  like  bugbears 
and  Terriculimentaes. 


THE    MEN    OF    MAINE. 

[From   "An  Account  of  Two  Voyages  to  New 
England."      1675.] 

The  people  in  the  province  of  Maine  may  be 
divided  into  magistrates,  husbandmen  or  planters,  and 
fishermen  ;  of  the  magistrates  some  be  royalists,  the 
rest  perverse  spirits,  the  like  are  the  planters  and 
fishers,  of  which  some  be  planters  and  fishers  both, 
others  mere  fishers. 

Handicraftsmen  there  are  but  few,  the  tumelor  or 


THE    MEN    OF    MAINE.  73 

cooper,  smiths  and  carpenters  are  best  welcome 
amongst  them,  shopkeepers  there  are  none,  being 
supplied  by  the  Massachusetts  merchant  with  all 
things  they  stand  in  need  of,  keeping  here  and  there 
fair  magazines  stored  with  English  goods,  but  they  set 
excessive  prices  on  them,  if  they  do  not  gain  cent  per 
cent,  they  cry  out  that  they  are  losers.    .    .    . 

The  planters  are  or  should  be  restless  painstakers, 
providing  for  their  cattle,  planting  and  sowing  of  corn, 
fencing  their  grounds,  cutting  and  bringing  home  fuel, 
cleaving  of  claw-board  and  pipe-staves,  fishing  for 
fresh  water  fish  and  fowling  takes  up  most  of  their 
time,  if  not  all  ;  the  diligent  hand  maketh  rich,  but 
if  they  be  of  a  dronish  disposition  as  some  are,  they 
become  wretchedly  poor  and  miserable,  scarce  able  to 
free  themselves  and  family  from  importunate  famine, 
especially  in  the  winter  for  want  of  bread. 

They  have  a  custom  of  taking  tobacco,  sleeping  at 
noon,  sitting  long  at  meals,  sometimes  four  times  in  a 
day,  and  now  and  then  drinking  a  dram  of  the  bottle 
extraordinarily  :  the  smoking  of  tobacco,  if  moderately 
used  refresheth  the  weary  much,  and  so  doth  sleep. 

A  traveller  five  hours  doth  crave 
To  sleep,  a  student  seven  will  have, 
And  nine  sleeps  every  idle  knave. 

The  physician  allows  but  three  draughts  at  a  meal, 
the  first  for  need,  the  second  for  pleasure,  and  the 
third  for  sleep  ;  but  little  observed  by  them,  unless 
they  have  no  other  liquor  to  drink  but  water.  In 
some  places  where  the  springs  are  frozen  up,  or  at 
least  the  way  to  their  springs  made  unpassable  by  rea- 
son of  the  snow  and  the  like,  they  dress  their  meat  in 
aqua  c&  testis,  i.e.,  melted  snow.      At  other  times  it 


74  JOHN   JOSSELYN. 

is  very  well  cooked,  and  they  feed  upon  (generally) 
as  good  flesh,  beef,  pork,  mutton,  fowl,  and  fish  as 
any  is  in  the  whole  world  besides. 

Their  servants,  which  are  for  the  most  part  Eng- 
lish, when  they  are  out  of  their  time,  will  not  work 
under  half  a  crown  a  day,  although  it  be  for  to  make 
hay,  and  for  less  I  do  not  see  how  they  can,  by 
reason  of  the  dearness  of  clothing.  If  they  hire 
them  by  the  year,  they  pay  them  fourteen  or  fifteen 
pound,  yea,  twenty  pound  at  the  year's  end  in  corn, 
cattle  and  fish  :  some  of  these  prove  excellent  fowlers, 
bringing  in  as  many  as  will  maintain  their  master's 
house  ;  besides  the  profit  that  accrues  by  their  feathers. 
They  use  (when  it  is  to  be  had)  a  great  round  shot, 
called  Barstable  shot  (which  is  best  for  fowl,  made 
of  a  lead  blacker  than  our  common  lead  ;  to  six 
pound  of  shot  they  allow  one  pound  of  powder  ; 
cannon  powder  is  esteemed   best. 

The  fishermen  take  yearly  upon  the  coasts  many 
hundred  quintals  of  cod,  hake,  haddock,  pollack,  etc., 
which  they  split,  salt  and  dry  at  their  stages,  making 
three  voyages  in  a  year.  When  they  share  their  fish 
(which  is  at  the  end  of  every  voyage)  they  separate 
the  best  from  the  worst,  the  first  they  call  merchant- 
able fish,  being  sound,  full  grown  fish  and  well  made 
up,  which  is  known  when  it  is  clear  like  a  Lanthorn 
horn  and  without  spots  ;  the  second  sort  they  call 
refuse  fish  —  that  is,  such  as  is  salt  burnt,  spotted, 
rotten,  and  carelessly  ordered  :  these  they  put  off  to 
the  Massachusetts  merchants  ;  the  merchantable  for 
thirty  and  two  and  thirty  reals  a  quintal  (a  quintal  is 
an  hundred  and  twelve  pound  weight);  the  refuse  for 
nine  shillings  and  ten  shillings  a  quintal.     The  merchant 


THE    MEN   OF   MAINE.  75 

sends  the  merchantable  fish  to  Lisbon,  Bilbao,  Bor- 
deaux, Marseilles,  Toulon,  Rochelle,  Rouen,  and 
other  cities  of  France,  to  the  Canaries  with  claw- 
board  and  pipe-staves  which  is  there  and  at  the  Caribs 
a  prime  commodity  :  the  refuse  fish  they  put  off  at 
the  Carib  Islands,  Barbadoes,  Jamaica,  etc.,  who 
feed  their  negroes  with  it. 

To  every  shallop  belong  four  fishermen,  a  master 
or  steersman,  a  midshipman,  and  a  foremastman,  and 
a  shoreman  who  washes  it  out  of  the  salt,  and  dries  it 
upon  hurdles  pitched  upon  stakes  breast  high  and 
tends  their  cookery  ;  these  often  get  in  one  voyage 
eight  or  nine  pound  a  man  for  their  shares,  but  it 
doth  some  of  them  little  good,  for  the  merchant  to 
increase  his  gains  by  putting  off  his  commodity  in  the 
midst  of  their  voyages,  and  at  the  end  thereof  comes 
in  with  a  walking  tavern,  a  bark  laden  with  the  legiti- 
mate blood  of  the  rich  grape,  which  they  bring  from 
Fayal,  Madeira,  Canaries,  with  brandy,  rum,  the 
Barbadoes  strong  water,  and  tobacco.  Coming  ashore 
he  gives  them  a  taster  or  two,  which  so  charms  them, 
that  for  no  persuasions  that  their  employers  can  use 
will  they  go  out  to  sea,  although  fair  and  seasonable 
weather,  for  two  or  three  days  —  nay,  sometimes  a 
whole  week  —  till  they  are  wearied  with  drinking, 
taking  ashore  two  or  three  hogsheads  of  wine  and 
rum  to  drink  off  when  the  merchant  is  gone.  If  a 
man  of  quality  chance  to  come  where  they  are  rois- 
tering and  gulling  in  wine  with  a  dear  felicity,  he 
must  be  sociable  and  rollypooly  with  them,  taking  off 
their  liberal  cups  as  freely,  or  else  be  gone,  which  is 
best  for  him,  for  when  wine  in  their  guts  is  at  full 
tide  they  quarrel,  fight  and  do  one  another  mischief, 


76  JOHN   JOSSELYN. 

which  is  the  conclusion  of  their  drunken  compotations. 
When  the  day  of  payment  comes,  they  may  justly 
complain  of  their  costly  sin  of  drunkenness,  for  their 
shares  will  do  no  more  than  pay  the  reckoning  ;  if 
they  save  a  quintal  or  two  to  buy  shoes  and  stockings, 
shirts  and  waistcoats  with,  'tis  well,  otherwise  they  must 
enter  into  the  merchant's  books  for  such  things  as  they 
stand  in  need  of,  becoming  thereby  the  merchant's 
slaves,  and  when  it  riseth  to  a  big  sum  are  constrained 
to  mortgage  their  plantation,  if  they  have  any  ;  the 
merchant  when  the  time  is  expired  is  sure  to  seize 
upon  their  plantation  and  stock  of  cattle,  turning  them 
out  of  house  and  home,  poor  creatures,  to  look  out 
for  a  new  habitation  in  some  remote  place,  where 
they  begin  the  world  again.  The  lavish  planters  have 
the  same  fate,  partaking  with  them  in  the  like  bad 
husbandry  ;  of  these  the  merchant  buys  beef,  pork, 
pease,  wheat  and  Indian-corn,  and  sells  it  again 
many  times  to  the  fishermen.  Of  the  same  nature 
are  the  people  in  the  Duke's  province,  who  not  long 
before  I  left  the  country  petitioned  the  governor  and 
magistrates  in  the  Massachusetts  to  take  them  into 
their  government.  Birds  of  a  feather  will  rally 
together.    .    ,    . 

Josselyn's  Conclusion. 

Now  by  the  merciful  providence  of  the  Almighty, 
having  performed  two  voyages  to  the  northeast  parts 
of  the  western  world,  I  am  safely  arrived  in  my  native 
country,  having  in  part  made  good  the  French  proverb 
—  travel  where  thou  canst,  but  die  where  thou 
oughtest,    that  is,    in  thine  own  country. 


DANIEL    GOOKIN. 

Daniel  Gookin  was  born  in  Kent,  England,  about 
1612,  and  died  at  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  March 
19,  1687,  after  a  distinguished  career  as  soldier,  his- 
torian, and  protector  of  the  Indians  from  unjust  ex- 
ploitations. Gookin  went  with  his  father  to  Virginia 
in  1 62 1,  but,  sympathizing  rather  with  the  Puritan 
than  with  the  Cavalier,  he  moved,  in  1644,  t0  Cam- 
bridge, where  he  was  soon  made  captain  of  militia 
and  was  elected  to  the  Massachusetts  House  of  Depu- 
ties, of  which  he  became  Speaker  in  165  1.  In  1652 
he  was  elected  magistrate,  and  in  1656  appointed 
Superintendent  of  all  Indians  under  civil  authority. 
He  held  this  office  till  his  death,  in  spite  of  unpopu- 
larity, occasioned  by  the  protection  he  gave  to  his 
aboriginal  wards  during  and  after  King  Philip's  War. 
He  was  associated  with  Eliot  in  mission  work  among 
the  Indians.  He  visited  England  in  1656  and  again 
in  1657,  efficiently  protecting  on  his  return  in  1660 
the  fugitive  regicides  Goffe  and  Whalley.  He  was 
one  of  the  licensers  of  the  Cambridge  Printing  Press 
in  1662,  wrote  in  1674  Historical  Collections  of  the 
Indians  of  Massachusetts  (published  by  the  Massa- 
chusetts Historical  Societv,  1792),  and  also  a  never- 
published  and  long  since  lost  History  of  New  England. 
The  prospectus  of  this  second  book,  issued  with  his 
first,  is  so  good  as  to  make  us  regret  greatly  the  loss 

77 


78  DANIEL   GOOKIN. 

of  his  manuscript,  which  was  probably  destroyed  by 
fire.  A  third  work  of  Gookin's,  An  Historical 
Account  of  the  Doings  and  Sufferings  of  the  Christian 
Indians  in  New  England,  finished  in  1677,  just  after 
King  Philip's  War,  was  also  lost  for  many  years,  but 
was  finally  found  in  England  and  sent  back  to  Amer- 
ica, the  American  Antiquarian  Society  printing  it  in 
the  second  volume  of  their  Transactions  (1836). 
In  168 1  Gookin  was  made  Major- General  of  the 
Colony,  and  was  an  active  assertor  of  popular  rights 
in  the  agitation  which  preceded  the  withdrawal  of 
the  Colonial  Charter  (1686),  thus  recovering  much 
of  the  favor  he  had  lost  by  his  advocacy  of  charity 
toward  the  Christian  Indians.  He  died  so  poor  that 
his  friend  Eliot  solicited  ten  pounds  from  Robert 
Boyle  for  his  widow.  Both  as  a  brave,  good  man 
and  a  scholarly,  straightforward  writer  he  deserves  to 
be  better  remembered. 


GOOKIN    TO    CHARLES    II. 

[From  "  Historical  Collections  of  the  Indians 
in   New  England,"    written  in    1674.] 

the  epistle  dedicatory. 

To  the  High  and  Mighty  Prince  Charles,  by  the 
Grace  of  God,  King  of  Great-Britain,  France,  and 
Ireland,  Defender  of  the  Faith,  &c. 

Royal  Sir, 

I  have  read  that  Artaxerxes   Mnemon,  king   of 

Persia,  going  his  progress,  the  people  used  to  present 


GOOKIN   TO    CHARLES    II.  79 

him  with  their  several  gifts  in  the  way  ;  and  among 
the  rest  a  countryman,  having  nothing  else  to  present 
him  with,  ran  to  the  river,  and  taking  up  his  hands 
full  of  water,  presented  him  with  that.  Artaxerxes 
was  so  taken  therewith,  that  he  gave  the  fellow  a 
considerable  beneficence. 

So  have  I,  dread  Sovereign,  presumed  to  offer  this 
poor  mite,  as  a  testimony  of  my  affection.  I  must 
acknowledge  it  is  most  unworthy  to  kiss  your  royal 
hands,  being  so  meanly  apparelled  in  an  Indian  garb. 
But  the  matter  therein  contained,  being  a  true  account 
of  the  progress  of  the  Gospel  among  the  poor  Indians, 
within  your  dominions,  and  that  under  the  influence 
of  your  royal  favor,  this,  as  I  conceive,  is  not  un- 
meet for  your  Majesty's  knowledge.  Therefore  let 
it  please  your  Majesty  graciously  to  accept  and  peruse 
these  Collections,  and  especially  that  humble  proposal 
made  in  Chap.  12.  Sect.  5.  as  a  necessary  expedient 
to  promote  this  great  work,  and  which  must  have  its 
life,  under  God,  from  the  rays  of  your  Majesty's 
favor. 

The  God  of  heaven  and  earth  bless  your  Majesty 
with  all  temporal,  spiritual,  and  eternal  blessings  in 
Christ  Jesus ;  and  make  you  more  and  more  a  nursing 
father  to  his  church  ;  that  under  your  shadow  it 
may  rejoice,  and  every  individual  person  thereof  be 
encouraged  in  all  ways  of  godliness  and  honesty. 

So  prayeth  he  that  is  one  of  the  most  unworthy, 
yet  desirous  to  be  reckoned  among  the  number  of 
your  Majesty's  most  dutiful  and  loyal  subjects. 

Daniel  Gookin. 

Cambridge  in  New  England,  December  7th,  1674. 


80  DANIEL   GOOKIN. 

THE   ORIGIN    OF   THE    INDIANS. 

[From  the  Same,    Chap.   I.] 

Concerning  the  original  of  the  Savages,  or  Ind- 
ians, in  New  England,  there  is  nothing  of  certainty 
to  be  concluded.  But  yet,  as  I  conceive,  it  may 
rationally  be  made  out  that  all  the  Indians  of  America, 
from  the  Straits  of  Magellan  and  its  adjacent  islands 
on  the  south,  unto  the  most  northerly  part  yet  dis- 
covered, are  originally  of  the  same  nations  or  sort  of 
people.  Whatever  I  have  read  or  seen  to  this  pur- 
pose, I  am  the  more  confirmed  therein.  I  have  seen 
of  this  people,  along  the  sea  coasts  and  within  land, 
from  the  degrees  of  34  unto  44  of  north  latitude  ; 
and  have  read  of  the  Indians  of  Magellanico,  Peru, 
Brasilia,  and  Florida,  and  have  also  seen  some  of  them 
and  unto  my  best  apprehension,  they  are  all  the  same 
sort  of  people. 

The  color  of  their  skins,  the  form  and  shape  of 
their  bodies,  hair,  and  eyes,  demonstrate  this.  Their 
skins  are  of  a  tawny  color,  not  unlike  the  tawny 
Moors  in  Africa  ;  the  proportion  of  their  limbs,  well 
formed  ;  it  is  rare  to  see  a  crooked  person  among 
them.  Their  hair  is  black  and  harsh,  not  curling  ; 
their  eyes,  black  and  dull  ;  though  I  have  seen,  but 
very  rarely,  a  gray-eyed  person  among  them,  with 
brownish  hair.  But  still  the  difficulty  yet  remains, 
whence  all  these  Americans  had  their  first  original, 
and  from  which  of  the  sons  of  Noah  they  descended, 
and  how  they  came  first  into  these  parts  ;  which  is 
separated  so  very  far  from  Europe  and  Africa  by  the 


ORIGIN   OF   THE    INDIANS.  8 1 

Atlantic  Ocean,  and  from  a  great  part  of  Asia,  by 
Mar  del  Zur,  or  the  South  sea  :  in  which  sea  Sir 
Francis  Drake,  that  noble  hero,  in  his  famous  voyage 
about  the  world,  sailed  on  the  west  of  America,  from 
the  straits  of  Magellan,  lying  about  52  degrees  of  south 
latitude,  unto  38  degrees  of  north  latitude  :  where  he 
possessed  a  part  of  the  country,  and  received  subjection 
from  those  very  tractable  Indians,  in  the  right  of  the 
English  nation,  and  his  sovereign  prince,  the  famous 
queen  Elizabeth,  then  reigning,  and  her  successors, 
and  gave  it  the  name  of  New  Albion  :  which  country 
lies  west  northerly  of  Massachusetts  in  New  England  : 
for  Boston  lies  in  420  30' and  New  Albion  in  480  of 
north  latitude,  which  is  near  six  degrees  more  northerly. 

There  are  divers  opinions  about  this  matter. 

First,  some  conceive  that  this  people  are  of  the 
race  of  the  ten  tribes  of  Israel,  that  Shalmaneser  car- 
ried captive  out  of  their  own  country,  A.M.  3277,  of 
which  we  read  in  II.  Kings,  xviii.  9-12  ;  and  that 
God  hath,  by  some  means  or  other,  not  yet  discov- 
ered, brought  them  into  America  ;  and  herein  fulfilled 
his  just  threatening  against  them,  of  which  we  may 
read,  II.  Kings,  xvii.  from  6  to  the  19  verse;  and 
hath  reduced  them  into  such  woful  blindness  and  bar- 
barism, as  all  those  Americans  are  in  ;  yet  hath  re- 
served their  posterity  there  :  and  in  his  own  best  time, 
will  fulfil  and  accomplish  his  promise,  that  those  dry 
bones  shall  live,  of  which  we  read  Ezek.  xxxvii.  1- 
24.  A  reason  given  for  this  is  taken  from  the  prac- 
tice of  sundry  Americans,  especially  of  those  inhabit- 
ing Peru  and  Mexico,  who  were  most  populous,  and 
had  great  cities  and  wealth,  and  hence  are  probably 
apprehended    to   be    the  first  possessors   of  America. 


82  DANIEL   GOOKIN. 

Now  of  these  the  historians  write,  that  they  used  cir- 
cumcision and  sacrifice,  though  oftentimes  of  human 
flesh  :  so  did  the  Israelites  sacrifice  their  sons  unto 
Moloch,  II.  Kings,  xvii.,  17.  But  this  opinion,  that 
these  people  are  of  the  race  of  the  Israelites,  doth 
not  greatly  obtain.  But  surely  it  is  not  impossible, 
and  perhaps  not  so  improbable,  as  many  learned  men 
think. 

Secondly,  another  apprehension  is,  that  the  origi- 
nal of  these  Americans  is  from  the  Tartars,  or  Scyth- 
ians, that  live  in  the  north-east  parts  of  Asia  ;  which 
some  good  geographers  conceive  is  nearly  joined  unto 
the  north-west  parts  of  America,  and  possibly  are  one 
continent,  or  at  least  separated  but  by  some  narrow 
gulf;  and  from  this  beginning  have  spread  themselves 
into  the  several  parts  of  the  North  and  South  America  ; 
and  because  the  southern  parts  were  more  fertile,  and 
free  from  the  cold  winters  incident  to  the  northern 
regions,  hence  the  southern  parts  became  first  planted, 
and  most  populous  and  rich.  This  opinion  gained 
more  credit  than  the  former,  because  the  people  of 
America  are  not  altogether  unlike  in  color,  shape,  and 
manners,  unto  the  Scythian  people,  and  in  regard  that 
such  a  land  travel  is  more  feasible  and  probable  than 
a  voyage  by  sea  so  great  a  distance,  as  is  before  ex- 
pressed, from  other  inhabited  places,  either  in  Europe, 
Asia,  or  Africa  ;  especially  so  long  since,  when  we 
hear  of  no  sailing  out  of  sight  of  land,  before  the  use 
of  the  loadstone  and  compass  was  found.  But  if  this 
people  be  sprung  from  the  Tartarian  or  Scythian  peo- 
ple, as  this  notion  asserts,  then  it  is  to  me  a  question, 
why  they  did  not  attend  the  known  practice  of  that 
people  ;   who,  in  all  their  removes  and  plantations, 


ORIGIN    OF   THE    INDIANS.  83 

take  with  them  their  kine,  sheep,  horses,  and  camels, 
and  the  like  tame  beasts  ;  which  that  people  keep  in 
great  numbers,  and  drive  with  them  in  all  their  re- 
moves. But  of  these  sorts  and  kinds  of  beasts  used 
by  the  Tartars,  none  were  found  in  America  among 
the  Indians.  This  question  or  objection  is  answered 
by  some  thus  :  First,  possibly  the  first  people  were 
banished  for  some  notorious  offences ;  and  so  not  per- 
mitted to  take  with  them  of  these  tame  beasts.  Or, 
secondly,  possibly,  the  gulf,  or  passage,  between 
Asia  and  America,  though  narrow,  comparatively,  is 
yet  too  broad  to  waft  over  any  of  those  sort  of 
creatures  ;  and  yet  possibly  men  and  women  might 
pass  over  it  in  canoes  made  of  hollow  trees,  or  with 
barks  of  trees,  wherein,  it  is  known,  the  Indians  will 
transport  themselves,  wives  and  children,  over  lakes 
and  gulfs,  very  considerable  for  breadth.  I  have 
known  some  to  pass  with  like  vessels  forty  miles 
across  an  arm  of  the  sea. 

But  before  I  pass  to  another  thing,  suppose  it 
should  be  so,  that  the  origination  of  the  Americans 
came  from  Asia,  by  the  north-west  of  America, 
where  the  continents  are  conceived  to  meet  very 
near,  which  indeed  is  an  opinion  very  probable  ;  yet 
this  doth  not  hinder  the  truth  of  the  first  conjecture, 
that  this  people  may  be  of  the  race  of  the  ten  tribes 
of  Israel  :  for  the  king  of  Assyria  who  led  them  cap- 
tive, as  we  heard  before,  transported  them  into  Asia, 
and  placed  them  in  several  provinces  and  cities,  as  in 
II.  Kings,  xvii.  6.  Now  possibly,  in  process  of 
time,  this  people,  or  at  least  some  considerable  num- 
ber of  them,  whcse  custom  and  manner  it  was  to 
keep  themselves  distinct  from  the  other  nations  they 


84  DANIEL   GOOKIN. 

lived  amongst  ;  and  did  commonly  intermarry  only 
with  their  own  people  ;  and  also  their  religion  being 
so  different  from  the  heathen,  unto  whom  they  were 
generally  an  abomination,  as  they  were  to  the  Egyp- 
tians ;  and  also  partly  from  God's  judgment  following 
them  for  their  sins  :  I  say,  it  is  not  impossible  but  a 
considerable  number  of  them  might  withdraw  them- 
selves ;  and  so  pass  gradually  into  the  extreme  parts 
of  the  continent  of  Asia  ;  and  wherever  they  came, 
being  disrelished  by  the  heathen,  might  for  their  own 
security  pass  further  and  further,  till  they  found 
America  ;  which  being  unpeopled,  there  they  found 
some  rest  ;  and  so,  in  many  hundred  of  years,  spread 
themselves  in  America  in  that  thin  manner,  as  they 
were  found  there,  especially  in  the  northern  parts  of 
it  ;  which  country  is  able  to  contain  and  accommo- 
date millions  of  mankind  more  than  were  found  in  it. 
And  for  their  speech,  which  is  not  only  different  among 
themselves,  but  from  the  Hebrew,  that  might  easily  be 
lost  by  their  often  removes,  or  God's  judgment. 

A  third  conjecture  of  the  original  of  these  Indians, 
is,  that  some  of  the  tawny  Moors  of  Africa,  inhabiting 
upon  the  sea  coasts,  in  times  of  war  and  contention 
among  themselves,  have  put  off  to  sea,  and  been 
transported  over,  in  such  small  vessels  as  those  times 
afforded,  unto  the  south  part  of  America,  where  the 
two  continents  of  Africa  and  America  are  nearest  ; 
and  they  could  not  have  opportunity  or  advantage  to 
carry  with  the  small  vessels  of  those  times  any  tame 
beasts,  such  as  were  in  that  country.  Some  reasons 
are  given  for  this  notion.  First,  because  the  Ameri- 
cans are  much  like  the  Moors  of  Africa.  Secondly, 
the  seas  between  the  tropics  are  easy  to  pass,  and  safe 


ORIGIN   OF   THE    INDIANS.  85 

for  small  vessels  ;  the  winds  in  those  parts  blowing 
from  the  east  to  the  west,  and  the  current  setting  the 
same  course.  Thirdly,  because  it  is  most  probable, 
that  the  inhabitants  of  America  first  came  into  the 
south  parts  ;  where  were  found  the  greatest  numbers 
of  people,  and  the  most  considerable  cities  and  riches. 

But  these,  or  any  other  notions,  can  amount  to  no 
more  than  rational  conjecture  ;  for  a  certainty  of  their 
first  extraction  cannot  be  attained  ;  for  they  being 
ignorant  of  letters  and  records  of  antiquity,  as  the 
Europeans,  Africans,  and  sundry  of  the  Asians,  are 
and  have  been,  hence  any  true  knowledge  of  their 
ancestors  is  utterly  lost  among  them.  I  have  dis- 
coursed and  questioned  about  this  matter  with  some 
of  the  most  judicious  of  the  Indians,  but  their  answers 
are  divers  and  fabulous.  Some  of  the  inland  Indians 
say,  that  they  came  from  such  as  inhabit  the  sea- 
coasts.  Others  say,  that  there  were  two  young 
squaws,  or  women,  being  at  first  either  swimming  or 
wading  in  the  water  ;  the  froth  or  foam  of  the  water 
touched  their  bodies,  from  whence  they  became  with 
child  ;  and  one  of  them  brought  forth  a  male  ;  and 
the  other  a  female  child  ;  and  then  the  two  women 
died  and  left  the  earth  :  So  their  son  and  daughter 
were  their  first  progenitors.  Other  fables  and  fig- 
ments are  among  them  touching  this  thing,  which 
are  not  worthy  to  be  inserted.  These  only  may 
suffice  to  give  a  taste  of  their  great  ignorance  touching 
their  original  ;  the  full  determination  whereof  must  be 
left  until  the  day,  wherein  all  secret  and  hidden 
things  shall  be  manifested  to  the  glory  of  God. 

But  this  may  upon  sure  grounds  be  asserted,  that 
they  are  Adam's  posterity,  and  consequently  children 


86  DANIEL  GOOKIN. 

of  wrath  ;  and  hence  are  not  only  objects  of  all 
christians'  pity  and  compassion,  but  subjects  upon 
which  our  faith,  prayers,  and  best  endeavours  should 
be  put  forth  to  reduce  them  from  barbarism  to  civil- 
ity ;  but  especially  to  rescue  them  out  of  the  bondage 
of  Satan,  and  bring  them  to  salvation  by  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  ;  which  is  the  main  scope  and  design  of 
this  tractate. 


THE    GRATITUDE    OF   HIACOOMES. 

[From  the  Same,   Chap.  III.] 

In  this  strait,  several  of  their  carnal  and  uncon- 
verted kindred  and  relations  applied  themselves  unto 
Hiacoomes  and  his  wife,  [who  was  in  a  delicate  con- 
dition and  dangerously  ill]  pressing  them  to  send  for 
a  powow,  and  use  that  help  for  relief.  But  both 
husband  and  wife  utterly  refused  their  temptation  ; 
the  man  being  willing  to  submit  to  God's  disposal, 
and  lose  his  wife,  though  he  loved  her  dearly,  rather 
than  take  assistance  from  the  devil  and  his  instruments, 
whom  he  had  renounced  ;  and  the  woman,  who  was 
the  sufferer,  yet,  through  the  grace  of  God,  was 
endowed  with  such  christian  fortitude,  that  she  also 
utterly  refused  this  method  for  her  deliverance,  and 
would  rather  lose  her  life  than  seek  help  that  way. 
In  this  exigence,  they  earnestly  cried  to  God  in 
prayer,  to  show  mercy  to  them  for  Jesus  Christ's 
sake  ;  imploring  also  the  prayers  of  Mr.  Thomas 
Mayhew,  junior,  their  teacher,  and  other  English 
christians,   living  nigh  them.      Mr.  Mayhew,   being 


THE   GRATITUDE    OF   HIACOOMES.       87 

affected  with  the  case,  got  together  some  godly 
christians  to  meet  together  ;  and  those  kept  a  day  of 
fasting  and  prayer,  to  implore  the  help  of  God  for 
these  poor,  distressed,  christian  Indians.  And  the 
Lord  was  graciously  pleased  to  hear  and  answer  their 
prayers,  and  shortly  after  gave  the  woman  safe  de- 
liverance of  a  daughter  ;  which  the  father  named  by 
a  word  in  the  Indian  language,  which  signified  in 
English,  Return.  When  Mr.  Mayhew,  the  minis- 
ter, understood  this,  he  demanded  of  Hiacoomes  the 
reason,  why  he  gave  his  daughter  that  name  ;  whose 
answer  was  to  this  effect  :  Sir,  said  he,  a  little  while 
since,  you  know,  I  and  my  wife  and  children,  were 
travelling  on  apace  in  the  broad  way  to  hell  and  all 
misery,  and  going  from  God  ;  but  now,  since  you 
preached  to  us,  I,  and  my  wife  and  children,  are, 
through  God's  grace,  returnbig  back  the  contrary 
way,  with  our  faces  set  towards  God,  heaven,  and 
happiness.  Secondly,  you  know,  before  my  wife 
was  delivered  of  this  child,  how  great  peril  of  life  she 
was  in,  and  God  seemed  to  be  very  angry  with  us  ; 
but  he  was  intreated  and  heard  our  prayers,  and  is 
returned  to  us  with  mercies,  in  my  wife's  safe  deliver- 
ance of  this  daughter.  And  for  these  two  reasons,  I 
call  this  child  Return.  This  story  is  most  certainly 
true  ;  and  was  told  me  distinctly  by  Mr.  Thomas 
Mayhew,  junior,  their  minister,  Hiacoomes  being 
present,  in  travelling  on  foot  between  Watertown  lec- 
ture and  Cambridge,  the  Indian  that  was  the  principal 
person  concerned  being  with  him.    .    .    . 


88  DANIEL   GOOKIN. 

CONCERNING    -CHOICE    INDIAN 
YOUTHS." 

[From  the  Same,  Chap.  V.] 

There  was  much  cost  out  of  the  Corporation  stock 
expended  in  this  work,  for  fitting  and  preparing  the 
Indian  youth  to  be  learned  and  able  preachers  unto 
their  countrymen.  Their  diet,  apparel,  books,  and 
schooling,  was  chargeable.  In  truth  the  design  was 
prudent,  noble,  and  good  ;  but  it  proved  ineffectual 
to  the  ends  proposed.  For  several  of  the  said  youth 
died,  after  they  had  been  sundry  years  at  learning 
and  made  good  proficiency  therein.  Others  were 
disheartened  and  left  learning,  after  they  were  almost 
ready  for  the  college.  And  some  returned  to  live 
among  their  countrymen  ;  where  some  of  them  are 
improved  for  school-masters  and  teachers,  unto  which 
they  are  advantaged  by  their  education.  Some  others 
of  them  have  entered  upon  other  callings  :  as  one  is  a 
mariner  ;  another,  a  carpenter  ;  another  went  for 
England  with  a  gentleman,  that  lived  sometimes  at 
Cambridge  in  New  England,  named  Mr.  Drake, 
which  Indian,  as  I  heard,  died  there  not  many 
months  after  his  arrival. 

I  remember  but  only  two  of  them  all,  that  lived  in 
the  college  at  Cambridge  ;  the  one  named  Joel,  the 
other,  Caleb  ;  both  natives  of  Martha's  Vineyard. 
These  two  were  hopeful  young  men,  especially  Joel, 
being  so  ripe  in  learning,  that  he  should,  within  a 
few  months,  have  taken  his  first  degree  of  bachelor 
of  art  in  the  college.      He  took  a  voyage  to  Martha's 


CHOICE    INDIAN    YOUTHS.  89 

Vineyard  to  visit  his  father  and  kindred,  a  little  before 
the  commencement  ;  but  upon  his  return  back  in  a 
vessel,  with  other  passengers  and  mariners,  suffered 
shipwreck  upon  the  island  of  Nantucket  ;  where  the 
bark  was  found  put  on  shore  ;  and  in  all  probability 
the  people  in  it  came  on  shore  alive,  but  afterwards 
were  murdered  by  some  wicked  Indians  of  that  place  ; 
who,  for  lucre  of  the  spoil  in  the  vessel,  which  was 
laden  with  goods,  thus  cruelly  destroyed  the  people 
in  it  ;  for  which  fault  some  of  those  Indians  was  con- 
victed and  executed  afterwards.  Thus  perished  our 
hopeful  young  prophet  Joel.  He  was  a  good  scholar 
and  a  pious  man,  as  I  judge.  I  knew  him  well  ;  for 
he  lived  and  was  taught  in  the  same  town  where  I 
dwell.  I  observed  him  for  several  years,  after  he 
was  grown  to  years  of  discretion,  to  be  not  only  a 
diligent  student,  but  an  attentive  hearer  of  God's 
word  ;  diligently-  writing  the  sermons,  and  frequent- 
ing lectures  ;  grave  and  sober  in  his  conversation. 

The  other  called  Caleb,  not  long  after  he  took  his 
degree  of  bachelor  of  art  at  Cambridge  in  New 
England,  died  of  a  consumption  at  Charlestown, 
where  he  was  placed  by  Mr.  Thomas  Danforth,  who 
had  inspection  over  him,  under  the  care  of  a  physi- 
cian in  order  to  his  health  ;  where  he  wanted  not  for 
the  best  means  the  country  could  afford,  both  of 
food  and  physic  ;  but  God  denied  the  blessing,  and 
put  a  period  to  his  days. 

Of  this  disease  of  the  consumption  sundry  of  those 
Indian  youths  died,  that  were  bred  up  to  school 
among  the  English.  The  truth  is,  this  disease  is 
frequent  among  the  Indians  ;  and  sundry  die  of  it, 
that  live  not  with  the   English.      A  hectic  fever,  issu- 


90  DANIEL   GOOKIN. 

ing  in  a  consumption,  is  a  common  and  mortal  dis- 
ease among  them.  I  know  some  have  apprehended 
other  causes  of  the  mortality  of  these  Indian  scholars. 
Some  have  attributed  it  unto  the  great  change  upon 
their  bodies,  in  respect  of  their  diet,  lodging,  apparel, 
studies  ;  so  much  different  from  what  they  were 
inured  to  among  their  own  countrymen. 

These  awful  providences  of  God,  in  frustrating  the 
hopeful  expectations  concerning  the  learned  Indian 
youth,  who  were  designed  to  be  for  teachers  unto 
their  countrymen,  concurring  with  some  other  severe 
dispensations  of  God  obstructive  to  this  work,  —  some 
whereof  may  be  hereafter  mentioned,  — -  caused  great 
thoughts  of  heart  unto  the  well-willers  and  promoters 
thereof.  Some  conceived,  God  was  not  pleased  yet 
to  make  use  of  any  of  the  Indians  to  preach  the 
Gospel  ;  and  that  the  time  of  the  great  harvest  of 
their  ingathering  is  not  yet  come,  but  will  follow  after 
the  calling  of  the  Jews.  Others  thought  that  this 
honor  of  their  instruction  and  conversion  shall  be  con- 
tinued with  Englishmen.  Others  were  of  opinion, 
that  Satan,  the  great  enemy  and  opposer  of  men's 
salvation,  who  had  for  many  years  held  these  poor 
barbarians  under  his  dominion,  did  use  all  his  strata- 
gems and  endeavors  to  impede  the  spreading  of  the 
Christian  faith,  that  he  might  the  better  keep  pos- 
session of  his  kingdom  among  them.  But  others, 
whose  faith  I  hope  in  God  was  active  and  vigorous, 
did  conclude  that  there  was  nothing  more  in  these 
providences  and  remoras,  than  did  usually  attend  and 
accompany  all  good  designs,  tending  to  the  glory  of 
God  and  salvation  of  souls  ;  whereof  plentiful 
examples  are  recorded   in    Holy  Scriptures,  especially 


WANNALANCET'S   CANOE.  9  I 

in  the   primitive  times  ;   which  in  several   chapters  or 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  may  be  demonstrated.    .    .    . 


WANNALANCET'S    CANOE. 

[From  the  Same,   Chap.    VII.] 

May  5th,  1674,  according  to  our  usual  custom, 
Mr.  Eliot  and  myself  took  our  journey  to  Wamesit, 
or  Pawtuckett  ;  and  arriving  there  that  evening,  Mr. 
Eliot  preached  to  as  many  of  them  as  could  be  got 
together,  out  of  Mat.  xxii.  1-14,  the  parable  of  the 
marriage  of  the  King's  son.  We  met  at  the  wigwam 
of  one  called  Wannalancet,  about  two  miles  from  the 
town,  near  Pawtuckett  Falls,  and  bordering  upon 
Merrimac  River.  This  person,  Wannalancet,  is  the 
eldest  son  of  old  Pasaconaway,  the  chiefest  sachem 
of  Pawtuckett.  He  is  a  sober  and  grave  person,  and 
of  years,  between  fifty  and  sixty.  He  hath  been 
always  loving  and  friendly  to  the  English.  Many 
endeavors  have  been  used  several  years  to  gain  this 
sachem  to  embrace  the  Christian  religion  ;  but  he 
hath  stood  off  from  time  to  time,  and  not  yielded  up 
himself  personally,  though  for  four  years  past  he 
hath  been  willing  to  hear  the  word  of  God  preached, 
and  to  keep  the  Sabbath.  A  great  reason  that  hath 
kept  him  off,  I  conceive,  hath  been  the  indisposition 
and  averseness  of  sundry  of  his  chief  men  and  rela- 
tions to  pray  to  God  ;  which  he  foresaw  would 
desert  him,  in  case  he  turned  Christian.  But  at  this 
time,  May  6th,  1674,  it  pleased  God  so  to  influence 
and  overcome  his  heart,  that  it  being  proposed  to  him 


92  DANIEL   GOOKIN. 

to  give  his  answer  concerning  praying  to  God,  after 
some  deliberation  and  serious  pause  he  stood  up,  and 
made  a  speech  to  this  effect  :  — 

"Sirs,  you  have  been  pleased  for  four  years  last 
past,  in  your  abundant  love,  to  apply  yourselves  par- 
ticularly unto  me  and  my  people,  to  exhort,  press, 
and  persuade  us  to  pray  to  God.  I  am  very  thank- 
ful to  you  for  your  pains.  I  must  acknowledge," 
said  he,  **  I  have,  all  my  days,  used  to  pass  in  an 
old  canoe"  (alluding  to  his  frequent  custom  to  pass 
in  a  canoe  upon  the  river),  "and  now  you  exhort 
me  to  change  and  leave  my  old  canoe,  and  embark 
in  a  new  canoe,  to  which  I  have  hitherto  been  un- 
willing :  but  now  I  yield  up  myself  to  your  advice, 
and  enter  into  a  new  canoe,  and  do  engage  to  pray 
to  God  hereafter." 

This  his  professed  subjection  was  well  pleasing  to  all 
that  were  present,  of  which  there  were  some  English 
persons  of  quality  ;  as  Mr.  Richard  Daniel,  a  gentle- 
man that  lived  in  Billerica,  about  six  miles  off:  and 
Lieutenant  Henchman,  a  neighbor  at  Chelmsford  ; 
besides  brother  Eliot  and  myself,  with  sundry  others, 
English  and  Indians.  Mr.  Daniel  before  named 
desired  brother  Eliot  to  tell  this  sachem  from  him, 
that  it  may  be,  while  he  went  in  his  old  canoe,  he 
passed  in  a  quiet  stream  :  but  the  end  thereof  was 
death  and  destruction  to  soul  and  body.  But  now 
he  went  into  a  new  canoe,  perhaps  he  would  meet 
with  storms  and  trials  ;  but  yet  he  should  be. encour- 
aged to  persevere,  for  the  end  of  his  voyage  would  be 
everlasting  rest.  Moreover  he  and  his  people  were 
exhorted  by  brother  Eliot  and  myself  to  go  on  and 
sanctify  the  Sabbath,  to  hear  the  Word,  and  use  the 


ONE    OF   GOD'S    ENDS.  93 

means  that  God  hath  appointed,  and  encourage  their 
hearts  in  the  Lord  their  God.  Since  that  time  J  hear 
this  sachem  doth  persevere,  and  is  a  constant  and 
diligent  hearer  of  God's  Word,  and  sanctifieth  the 
Sabbath,  though  he  doth  travel  to  Wamesit  meeting 
every  Sabbath,  which  is  above  two  miles  ;  and  though 
sundry  of  his  people  have  deserted  him,  since  he 
subjected  to  the  Gospel,  yet  he  continues  and 
persists. 

ONE   OF    GOD'S   ENDS. 

[From   "An   Historical  Account  of  the  Doings 
and  Sufferings  of  the  Christian   Indians."] 

4thly.  Doubtless  one  great  end  God  aimed  at  was 
the  punishment  and  destruction  of  many  of  the  wicked 
heathen,  whose  iniquities  were  now  full  ;  the  last 
period  whereof  was  their  malignant  opposition  to  the 
offers  of  the  Gospel,  for  the  Pakanahats  and  the  Nar- 
ragansetts,  those  two  great  nations  upon  whom  the 
dint  of  war  hath  most  especially  fallen,  (for  they  are 
almost  totally  destroyed),  had  once  and  again  the 
Gospel  offered  to  them.  But  their  chief  Sachems 
malignantly  rejected  and  opposed  it,  and  consequently 
the  people  followed  their  examples.  And  notwith- 
standing they  were  very  conversant  among  the  Eng- 
lish, especially  the  Narragansetts,  and  commendable 
for  their  industry  and  labor  among  the  English,  yet 
had  the  most  of  them  no  hearing  ears  unto  the  glad 
tidings  of  salvation  offered  in  the  Gospel,  and  very 
few  of  them  delighted  in  communion  with  the  Chris- 
dan   Indians.      And   here  I  shall  insert   a  matter   of 


94  DANIEL   GOOKIN. 

remark.  After  the  war  began  with  Philip,  the  Eng- 
lish, having  cause  to  be  suspicious  of  the  Narragan- 
setts  sent  some  soldiers  to  Mr.  Smith's  of  Wickford, 
that  lived  near  them,  designing  thereby  to  put  upon 
them  a  necessity  to  declare  themselves  friends  or  ene- 
mies, and  to  push  upon  them  the  performances  of 
former  articles  of  agreement  between  the  English  and 
them,  at  which  time,  being  in  July,  1675,  they  com- 
plied to  a  treaty  of  continuing  in  peace  and  friendship 
with  the  English.  But  among  other  articles,  the 
Narragansetts,  by  their  agent  Potuche,  urged  that  the 
English  should  not  send  any  among  them  to  preach 
the  Gospel  or  call  upon  them  to  pray  to  God.  But, 
the  English  refusing  to  concede  to  such  an  article,  it 
was  withdrawn,  and  a  peace  concluded  for  that  time. 
In  this  act  they  declared  what  their  hearts  were,  viz.  to 
reject  Christ  and  his  grace  offered  to  them  before.  But 
the  Lord  Jesus,  before  the  expiration  of  18  months 
destroyed  the  body  of  the  Narragansett  nation,  that 
would  not  have  him  to  reign  over  them,  particularly 
all  their  chief  Sachems  and  this  Potuche,  a  chief  coun- 
cillor and  subtle  fellow,  who  was  taken  at  Rhode 
Island,  coming  voluntarily  there,  and  afterward  sent 
to  Boston  and  there  executed. 


THE  WILES  OF  THE    INDIANS. 

[From   the  Same.] 

.  .  .  The  English  at  first  thought  easily  to  chas- 
tise the  insolent  doings  and  murderous  practices  of  the 
heathen.      But  it  was  found  another  manner   of  thing 


THE    WILES   OF   THE    INDIANS.         95 

than  was  expected  ;  for  our  men  could  see  no  enemy 
to  shoot  at,  but  yet  felt  their  bullets  out  of  the  thick 
bushes  where  they  lay  in  ambushments.  The  enemy 
also  used  this  stratagem,  to  apparel  themselves  from 
the  waist  upwards  with  green  boughs,  that  our  Eng- 
lishmen could  not  readily  discern  them,  or  distinguish 
them  from  the  natural  bushes  ;  this  manner  of  fight- 
ing our  men  had  little  experience  of,  and  hence  were 
under  great  disadvantages.  The  English  wanted  not 
courage  or  resolution,  but  could  not  discern  or  find  an 
enemy  to  fight  with,  yet  were  galled  by  the  enemy. 
The  Council,  having  advice  hereof  from  the  com- 
manders of  the  army,  judged  it  very  necessary  to  arm 
and  send  forth  some  of  the  Praying  Indians  to  assist 
our  forces,  hereby  not  only  to  try  their  fidelity,  but 
to  deal  the  better  with  the  enemy  in  their  own  ways 
and  methods,  according  to  the  Indian  manner  of  fight- 
ing, wherein  our  Indians  were  well  skilled,  and  had 
our  [their]  counsel  practiced,  and  also  to  be  as  scouts 
and  forlorns  to  the  English  ;  for  the  Indians  generally 
excel  in  a  quick  and  strong  sight  for  the  discovery  of 
any  thing  ;  and  then  they  have  a  very  accurate  sagac- 
ity in  discovering  the  tracks  of  man  or  beast.  And 
also  they  are  subtle  and  wily  to  accomplish  their  enter- 
prise, especially  they  keep  a  deep  silence  in  their 
marches  and  motions,  whereas  the  English  are  more 
prone  to  talk  to  one  another  and  make  a  noise, 
whereby  the  enemy,  discovering  them  before  they 
come  near,  either  prepare  for  them,  or  take  their 
flight,  as  is  most  for  their  advantage.  And  here  I 
shall  take  leave,  as  a  parenthesis,  to  insert  a  short 
and  true  story  of  an  Indian  chief,  captain  under  Un- 
cas,  who  marching  in  this  war  as  scout  with  some 


96  DANIEL   GOOKIN. 

English  soldiers,  of  Connecticut,  one  of  the  English 
soldiers  had  on  a  new  pair  of  shoes  that  made  a  creak- 
ing noise  as  they  travelled.  The  Indian  captain  was 
not  quiet  until  he  had  persuaded  the  fellow  with  creak- 
ing shoes  to  take  his  moccasins  and  wear  them,  and  the 
Indian  carried  the  Englishman's  shoes  at  his  back,  and 
went  himself  barefoot.  Another  English  soldier  had 
on  a  pair  of  leather  breeches,  which  being  dry  made 
a  rustling  noise  ;  the  Indian  captain  was  not  satisfied 
until  he  had  persuaded  the  man  to  take  off  his  breeches, 
or  else  to  wet  them  in  the  water  to  prevent  their  rust- 
ling. By  this  relation,  which  is  a  truth,  we  may 
observe  how  circumspect  and  careful  they  are  in  order 
to  obtain  advantage  of  their  enemy. 


DEFENCE    OF   THE    INDIANS. 

[From  the  Same.] 

Notwithstanding  the  Council's  endeavors  in  the 
former  orders,  and  the  testimony  of  these  English 
witnesses  on  behalf  of  the  Christian  Indians,  yet  the 
clamors  and  animosity  among  the  common  people 
increased  daily,  not  only  against  those  Indians,  but 
also  all  such  English  as  were  judged  to  be  charitable 
to  them.  And  particularly,  many  harsh  reflections 
and  speeches  were  uttered  against  Major  Daniel 
Gookin,  and  Mr.  John  Eliot,  the  former  of  whom 
had  been  appointed  by  the  authority  of  the  General 
Court  of  Massachusetts,  and  approbation  of  the 
Honorable  Governor  and  Corporation  for  Gospeliz- 
ing  those   Indians,  to  rule  and  govern   those   Indians 


DEFENCE  OF   THE    INDIANS.  97 

about  twenty  years,  and  the  latter  had  been  their 
teacher  and  minister  about  thirty  years,  as  if  they  did 
support  and  protect  those  Indians  against  the  English  ; 
whereas  (God  knows)  there  was  no  ground  for  such 
an  imputation,  but  was  a  device  and  contrivance  of 
Satan  and  his  instruments,  to  hinder  and  subvert  the 
work  of  religion  among  the  Indians  ;  for  neither  had 
any  of  our  Christian  Indians  been  justly  charged, 
either  with  unfaithfulness,  or  treachery  towards  the 
English,  since  the  war  begun  (that  I  know  of). 
But  on  the  contrary,  some  of  them  had  discovered  the 
treachery,  particularly  Walcut  the  ruler  .  .  .  of  Philip, 
before  he  began  any  act  of  hostility,  as  is  before  men- 
tioned, and  since  the  war  have  Served  the  English 
faithfully,  but  yet  must  be  content  to  receive  such 
retribution  from  too  many,  (at  whose  hands  they 
have  deserved  other  things,)  but  now  both  the  Chris- 
tian Indians,  and  all  that  favored  them  are  enemies  to 
the  English,  and  ought  to  be  proceeded  against 
accordingly,  if  some  men  might  have  had  their  wills, 
so  great  was  the  rage  and  unreasonable  prejudice  of 
many  at  the  time.  It  might  rationally  have  been  con- 
sidered, that  those  two  persons  above  named,  who 
had  (one  of  them  for  above  twenty  years,  and  the 
other  about  thirty  years,)  been  acquainted  with,  and 
conversant  among  those  Christian  Indians,  should  have 
more  knowledge  and  experience  of  them  than  others 
had,  and  consequently  should  be  able  to  speak  more 
particularly  concerning  such  of  those  Indians  whom 
they  knew  (according  to  a  judgment  of  charity)  to  be 
honest  and  pious  persons.  And  if  at  such  a  time,  they 
should  have  been  wholly  silent  and  remiss  in  giving  a 
modest  testimony  concerning  them  when  called  there- 


98  DANIEL   GOOKIN. 

unto,  God  might  justly  have  charged  it  upon  them,  as  a 
sin  and  neglect  of  their  duty,  had  they  for  fear  declined 
to  witness  the  truth  for  Christ,  and  for  these  his  poor 
distressed  servants,  some  of  the  Christian  Indians. 
And  in  this  day  of  Massah  and  Meribah,  some  that 
have  the  repute  and  I  hope  truly  godly  men,  were  so 
far  gone  with  the  temptation,  that  they  accounted  it  a 
crime  in  any  man  to  say  that  they  hoped  some  of  those 
Indians  were  pious  persons,  or  that  they  had  grounds 
of  persuasion  that  such  and  such  would  be  saved. 
This  cruel  frame  of  spirit  (for  I  can  give  it  no  gentler 
denomination)  arose  I  apprehend  from  a  double 
ground,  first,  the  malice  of  Satan  against  Christ's 
work  among  those  Indians  and  to  hinder  their  prog- 
ress in  religion  :  for  they  rinding  Englishmen,  pro- 
fessing the  Christian  religion,  so  enraged  against  them, 
and  injurious  to  them  without  cause,  as  they  well 
knew  in  their  own  consciences,  whatever  others 
thought  or  spake  to  the  contrary,  this  was  a  sore 
temptation  to  such  weak  ones  and  little  children  as  it 
were  in  the  ways  of  Christianity,  and  hereby  to  in- 
cline them  to  apostasy,  and  if  the  devil  by  this  strata- 
gem could  have  prevailed,  then  the  whole  work  of 
Christ  among  them,  so  spoken  of,  blessed  and  owned 
by  the  Lord,  would  have  been  utterly  overthrown  : 
this  would  have  gratified  Satan  and  his  instruments 
greatly. 


THOMAS    WHEELER. 

Thomas  Wheeler,  a  New  England  soldier  and 
annalist,  was  born  in  England  about  1620,  and  died 
at  Concord,  Massachusetts,  in  1686,  having  settled 
there  soon  after  his  emigration  in  1642.  He  took 
part  in  King  Philip's  War,  and  was  appointed, 
shortly  after  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  in  July,  1675, 
military  escort  to  Captain  Edward  Hutchinson  of 
Boston,  who  had  been  commissioned  by  the  Colonial 
Council  to  treat  with  the  Indian  Sachems  in  the 
Nipnuck  country.  King  Philip,  jealous  of  the  en- 
croachments of  English  settlers  upon  his  hunting 
grounds,  had  begun  his  aggressions  in  the  preceding 
month.  He  succeeded  in  combining  nearly  all  the 
Indians  of  New  England  against  the  invaders,  and 
the  expedition  of  Hutchinson  failed,  the  latter  with 
twenty  men  being  waylaid  and  slain  at  Brookfield  on 
the  2nd  of  August.  Wheeler's  narrative  of  this 
expedition  exhibits  him  as  a  faithful  soldier  of  the 
Colony  and  of  the  God  of  the  Puritans,  but  as  a 
writer  endowed  with  no  gifts  of  literary  expression. 
Yet  his  tract,  as  the  half  of  it  we  give  shows,  is  not 
without  a  certain  savory  interest  from  the  very  quaint- 
ness  of  its  phraseology.  It  was  first  published  in 
1676.  In  1827  it  appeared  in  the  second  volume 
of  the  Collections  of  the  New  Hampshire  Historical 
Society. 

99 


100  THOMAS   WHEELER. 


A    TRUE    NARRATIVE. 

Of  the  Lord's  Providences  in  Various  Dispensa- 
tions towards  Captain  Edward  Hutchinson  of 
Boston  and  Myself,  and  those  that  went  with 
us    into    the    nlpmuck     country,    and    also    to 

QuABAUG,      ALIAS      BrOOKFIELD  :      The    SAID     CaPTAIN 

Hutchinson  having  a  Commission  from  the 
Honored  Council  of  this  Colony  to  treat  with 
several  Sachems  in  those  Parts  in  Order  to  the 
Public  Peace,  and  Myself  being  ordered  by  the 
said  Council  to  Accompany  Him  with  part  of  my 
Troop  for  Security  from  any  Danger  that  might 
be  from  the  Indians  :  and  to  assist  Him  in  the 
Transaction  of  Matters  committed  to  Him. 

The  said  Captain  Hutchinson  and  myself  with 
about  twenty  men  or  more  marched  from  Cambridge 
to  Sudbury,  July  28th,  '75,  and  from  thence  into  the 
Nipmuck  country,  and  finding  that  the  Indians  had 
deserted  their  towns,  and  we  having  gone  until  we 
came  within  twenty  miles  of  New  Norwich,  on 
July  31st  (only  we  saw  two  Indians  having  an  horse 
with  them,  whom  we  would  have  spoke  with,  but 
they  fled  from  us  and' left  their  horse,  which  we 
took).  We  then  thought  it  not  expedient  to  march 
any  further  that  way,  but  set  our  march  for  Brook- 
field,  whither  we  came  on  the  Lord's  day  about  noon. 
From  thence  the  same  day  (being  August  1st),  we 
understanding  that  the  Indians  were  about  ten  miles 
north-west  from  us,  we  sent  out  four  men  to 
acquaint  the  Indians  that  we  were  not   come  to  harm 


A   TRUE    NARRATIVE.  101 

them,  but  our  business  was  only  to  deliver  a  message 
from  our  honored  Governor  and  Council  to  them,  and 
to  receive  their  answer,  we  desiring  to  come  to  a  treaty 
of  peace  with  them  (though  they  had  for  several  days 
fled  from  us),  they  having  before  professed  friendship 
and  promised  fidelity  to  the  English. 

When  the  messengers  came  to  them,  they  made  an 
alarm  and  gathered  together  about  an  hundred  and 
fifty  fighting  men,  as  near  as  they  could  judge.  The 
young  men  amongst  them  were  stout  in  their  speeches 
and  surly  in  their  carriage.  But  at  length  three  of 
the  chief  sachems  promised  to  meet  us  on  the  next 
morning  about  eight  of  the  clock,  upon  a  plain  within 
three  miles  of  Brookfield,  with  which  answer  the 
messengers  returned  to  us.  Whereupon,  though 
their  speeches  and  carriage  did  much  discourage 
divers  of  our  company,  yet  we  conceived  that  we 
had  a  clear  call  to  go  to  meet  them  at  the  place 
whither  they  had  promised  to  come.  Accordingly 
we  with  our  men  accompanied  with  three  of  the 
principal  inhabitants  of  that  town  marched  to  the 
plain  appointed  ;  but  the  treacherous  heathen  intend- 
ing mischief  (if  they  could  have  opportunity)  came 
not  to  the  said  place,  and  so  failed  our  hopes  of  speak- 
ing with  them  there.  Whereupon  the  said  Captain 
Hutchinson  and  myself  with  the  rest  of  our  company 
considered  what  was  best  to  be  done,  whether  we 
should  go  any  further  towards  them,  or  return,  divers 
of  us  apprehending  much  danger  in  case  we  did  pro- 
ceed, because  the  Indians  kept  not  promise  therewith 
us.  But  the  three  men  who  belonged  to  Brookfield 
were  so  strongly  persuaded  of  their  freedom  from  any 
ill  intentions  towards  us  (as  upon  other  grounds,    so 


102  THOMAS   WHEELER. 

especially  because  the  greatest  part  of  those  Indians 
belonged  to  David,  one  of  their  chief  sachems,  who 
was  taken  to  be  a  great  friend  to  the  English),  that 
the  said  Captain  Hutchinson,  who  was  principally 
instructed  with  the  matter  of  treaty  with  them,  was 
thereby  encouraged  to  proceed  and  march  forward 
towards  a  swamp  where  the  Indians  then  were. 

When  we  came  near  the  said  swamp,  the  way  was  so 
very  bad  that  we  could  march  only  in  single  file,  there 
being  a  very  rocky  hill  on  the  right  hand  and  a  thick 
swamp  on  the  left,  in  which  there  were  many  of  those 
cruel  bloodthirsty  heathen,  who  there  waylaid  us,  wait- 
ing an  opportunity  to  cut  us  off;  there  being  also 
much  brush  on  the  side  of  the  said  hill,  where  they  lay 
in  ambush  to  surprise  us.  When  we  had  marched  there 
about  sixty  or  seventy  rods,  the  said  perfidious  Indians 
sent  out  their  shot  upon  us  as  a  shower  of  hail,  they 
being,  as  was  supposed,  about  two  hundred  men  or 
more.  We  seeing  ourselves  so  beset,  and  not  having 
room  to  fight,  endeavored  to  fly  for  the  safety  of  our 
lives.  In  which  flight  we  were  in  no  small  danger 
to  be  all  cut  off",  there  being  a  very  miry  swamp  be- 
fore us,  into  which  we  could  not  enter  with  our  horses 
to  go  forwards  ;  and  there  being  no  safety  in  retreat- 
ing the  way  we  came,  because  many  of  our  enemies 
who  lay  behind  the  bushes  and  had  let  us  pass  by  them 
quietly,  when  others  had  shot,  they  came  out  and 
stopt  our  way  back  ;  —  so  that  we  were  forced  as  we 
could  to  get  up  the  steep  and  rocky  hill.  But  the 
greater  our  danger  was,  the  greater  was  God's  mercy 
in  the  preservation  of  so  many  from  sudden  destruction. 
Myself  being  gone  up  part  of  the  hill  without  any 
hurt,  and  perceiving  some  of  my  men  to  be  fallen  by 


A   TRUE    NARRATIVE.  103 

the  enemies'  shot,  I  wheeled  about  upon  the  Indians, 
not  calling  on  my  men  who  were  left  to  accompany 
me,  which  they  in  all  probability  would  have  done 
had  they  known  of  my  return  upon  the  enemy.  They 
firing  violently  out  of  the  swamp,  and  from  behind 
the  bushes  on  the  hillside,  wounded  me  sorely  and 
shot  my  horse  under  me,  so  that  he  faltering  and  fall- 
ing, I  was  forced  to  leave  him,  divers  of  the  Indians 
being  then  but  a  few  rods  distant  from  me.  My  son 
Thomas  Wheeler  flying  with  the  rest  of  the  company 
missed  me  amongst  them,  and  fearing  that  I  was  either 
slain  or  much  endangered,  returned  towards  the  swamp 
again,  though  he  had  then  received  a  dangerous  wound 
in  the  reins  ;  where  he  saw  me  in  the  danger  afore- 
said. Whereupon  he  endeavored  to  rescue  me,  show- 
ing himself  therein  a  loving  and  dutiful  son,  he 
adventuring  himself  into  great  peril  of  his  life  to  help 
me  in  that  distress  ;  there  being  many  of  the  enemies 
about  him.  My  son  set  me  on  his  own  horse,  and 
so  escaped  awhile  on  foot  himself,  until  he  caught  an 
horse  whose  rider  was  slain,  on  which  he  mounted, 
and  so  through  God's  great  mercy  we  both  escaped. 
But  in  this  attempt  for  my  deliverance  he  received 
another  dangerous  wound  by  their  shot  in  his  left  arm. 
There  were  then  slain  to  our  grief  eight  men.  .  .  . 
There  were  also  then  five  persons  wounded,  viz., 
Captain  Hutchinson,  myself  and  my  son  Thomas  as 
aforesaid,  Corporal  French  of  Billericay,  who  having 
killed  an  Indian  was  (as  he  was  taking  up  his  gun) 
shot,  and  part  of  one  of  his  thumbs  taken  off,  and 
also  dangerously  wounded  through  the  body  near  the 
shoulder.  The  fifth  was  John  Waldoe  of  Chelmsford 
who  was  not  so  dangerously   wounded    as   the  rest. 


104  THOMAS   WHEELER. 

They  also  then  killed  five  of  our  horses  and  wounded 
some  more,  which  soon  died  after  they  came  to  Brook- 
field.  Upon  this  sudden  and  unexpected  blow  given 
us  (wherein  we  desire  to  look  higher  than  man,  the 
instrument)  we  return  to  the  town  as  fast  as  the  bad- 
ness of  the  way  and  the  weakness  of  our  wounded 
men  would  permit,  we  being  then  ten  miles  from  it. 
All  the  while  we  were  going  we  durst  not  stay  to 
staunch  the  bleeding  of  our  wounded  men  for  fear  the 
enemy  should  have  surprised  us  again,  which  they 
attempted  to  do,  and  had  in  probability  done,  but 
that  we  perceiving  which  way  they  went,  wheeled 
off  to  the  other  hand,  and  so  by  God's  good  Provi- 
dence towards  us,  they  missed  us  ;  and  we  all  came 
readily  upon,  and  safely  to  the  town,  though  none  of 
us  knew  the  way  to  it,  those  of  the  place  being  slain 
as  aforesaid,  and  we  avoiding  any  thick  woods  and 
riding  in  open  places  to  prevent  danger  by  them. 
Being  got  to  the  town  we  speedily  betook  ourselves 
to  one  of  the  largest  and  strongest  houses  therein, 
where  we  fortified  ourselves  in  the  best  manner  we 
could  in  such  straits  of  time,  and  there  resolved  to 
keep  garrison,  though  we  were  but  few,  and  meanly 
fitted  to  make  resistance  against  so  many  enemies. 
The  news  of  the  Indians'  treacherous  dealing  with  us, 
and  the  loss  of  so  many  of  our  company  thereby,  did 
so  amaze  the  inhabitants  of  the  town,  that  they  being 
informed  thereof  by  us  presently  left  their  houses, 
divers  of  them  carrying  very  little  away  with  them, 
they  being  afraid  of  the  Indians'  sudden  coming  upon 
them  :  and  so  came  to  the  house  we  were  entered 
into,  very  meanly  provided  of  clothing  or  furnished 
with  provisions. 


A   TRUE    NARRATIVE.  105 

I  perceiving  myself  to  be  disenabled  for  the  dis- 
charge of  the  duties  of  my  place  by  reason  of  the 
wound  I  had  received,  and  apprehending  that  the 
enemy  would  soon  come  to  spoil  the  town  and  assault 
us  in  the  house,  1  appointed  Simon  Davis  of  Con- 
cord; James  Richardson  and  John  Fiske  of  Chelms- 
ford to  manage  affairs  for  our  safety  with  those  few 
men  whom  God  hath  left  us,  and  were  fit  for  any 
service,  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  said  town,  —  who 
did  well  and  commendably  perform  the  duties  of  the 
trust  committed  to  them,  with  much  courage  and 
resolution,  through  the  assistance  of  our  gracious  God, 
who  did  not  leave  us  in  our  low  and  distressed  state, 
but  did  mercifully  appear  for  us  in  our  greatest  need 
as  in  the  sequel  will  clearly  be   manifested. 

Within  two  hours  after  our  coming  to  the  said 
house,  or  less,  the  said  Captain  Hutchinson  and  my- 
self posted  away  Ephraim  Curtis  of  Sudbury  and 
Henry  Young  of  Concord  to  go  to  the  honored  Coun- 
cil at  Boston  to  give  them  an  account  of  the  Lord's 
dealings  with  us  and  our  present  condition.  When 
they  came  to  the  further  end  of  the  town  they  saw 
the  enemy  rifling  of  houses  which  the  inhabitants  had 
forsaken.  The  post  fired  upon  them  and  immedi- 
ately returned  to  us  again,  they  discerning  no  safety 
in  going  forward,  and  being  desirous  to  inform  us  of 
the  enemies'  actings,  that  we  might  the  more  prepare 
for  a  sudden  assault  by  them.  Which  indeed  pres- 
ently followed,  for  as  soon  as  the  said  post  was  come 
back  to  us,  the  barbarous  heathen  pressed  upon  us  in 
the  house  with  great  violence,  sending  in  their  shot 
amongst  us  like  hail  through  the  walls,  and  shouting 
as  if  they  would  have   swallowed  us   up  alive  ;  but 


106  THOMAS    WHEELER. 

our  good  God  wrought  wonderfully  for  us,  so  that 
there  was  but  one  man  wounded  within  the  house, 
viz.,  the  said  Henry  Young  who,  looking  out  at  a 
garret  window  that  evening,  was  mortally  wounded 
by  a  shot,  of  which  wound  he  died  within  two  days 
after.  There  was  the  same  day  another  man  slain, 
but  not  in  the  house.  A  son  of  Sergeant  Prichard's, 
adventuring  out  of  the  house  wherein  we  were  to  his 
father's  house  not  far  from  it,  to  fetch  more  goods 
out  of  it,  was  caught  by  those  cruel  enemies  as  they 
were  coming  towards  us,  who  cut  off  his  head,  kick- 
ing it  about  like  a  foot-ball,  and  then  putting  it  upon 
a  pole,  they  set  it  up  before  the  door  of  his  father's 
house,  in  our  sight. 

The  night  following  the  said  blow,  they  did  roar 
against  us  like  so  many  wild  bulls,  sending  in  their 
shot  amongst  us  till  towards  the  moon-rising,  which 
was  about  three  of  the  clock  ;  at  which  time  they 
attempted  to  fire  our  house  by  hay  and  other  combus- 
tible matter  which  they  brought  to  one  corner  of  the 
house  and  set  it  on  fire.  Whereupon  some  of  our 
company  were  necessitated  to  expose  themselves  to 
very  great  danger  to  put  it  out.  Simon  Davis,  one 
of  the  three  appointed  by  myself  as  Captain,  to  sup- 
ply my  place  by  reason  of  my  wounds  as  aforesaid, 
he,  being  of  a  lively  spirit,  encouraged  the  soldiers 
within  the  house  to  fire  upon  the  Indians ;  and  also 
those  that  adventured  to  put  out  the  fire  (which  began 
to  rage  and  kindle  upon  the  house  side)  with  these 
and  the  like  words,  that  "  God  is  with  us  and  fights 
for  us,  and  will  deliver  us  out  of  the  hands  of  these 
heathen,"  —  which  expressions  of  his  the  Indians 
hearing,  they   shouted  and   scoffed,  saying  :    "  Now 


A   TRUE    NARRATIVE.  107 

see  how  your  God  delivers  you,"  or  f  will  deliver 
you,"  sending  in  many  shots  whilst  our  men  were 
putting  out  the  fire.  But  the  Lord  of  Hosts  wrought 
very  graciously  for  us,  in  preserving  our  bodies  both 
within  and  without  the  house  from  their  shot,  and 
our  house  from  being  consumed  by  fire.  We  had  but 
two  men  wounded  in  that  attempt  of  theirs,  but  we  ap- 
prehended that  we  killed  divers  of  our  enemies.    .    .    . 

The  next  day  being  August  3d  they  continued 
shooting  and  shouting,  and  proceeded  in  their  former 
wickedness,  blaspheming  the  name  of  the  Lord  and 
reproaching  us,  his  afflicted  servants,  scoffing  at  our 
prayers  as  they  were  sending  in  their  shot  upon  all 
quarters  of  the  house.  And  many  of  them  went  to 
the  town's  meeting-house,  which  was  within  twenty 
rods  of  the  house  in  which  we  were,  who  mocked, 
saying  :  a  Come  and  pray  and  sing  psalms,"  and  in 
contempt  made  an  hideous  noise  somewhat  resem- 
bling singing.  But  we  to  our  power  did  endeavor 
our  own  defence,  sending  our  shot  amongst  them, 
the  Lord  giving  us  courage  to  resist  them,  and  pre- 
serving us  from  the  destruction  they  sought  to  bring 
upon  us.  On  the  evening  following  we  saw  our  ene- 
mies carrying  several  of  their  dead  or  wounded  men 
on  their  backs,  who  proceeded  that  night  to  send  in 
their  shot  as  they  had  done  the  night  before,  and  also 
still  shouted  as  if  the  day  had  been  certainly  theirs, 
and  they  should  without  fail  have  pervailed  against 
us  ;  which  they  might  have  the  more  hopes  of  in 
regard  that  we  discerned  the  coming  of  new  compa- 
nies to  them  to  assist  and  strengthen  them,  and  the 
unlikelihood  of  any  coming  to  our  help. 

They    also    used    several     stratagems     to    fire    us, 


108  THOMAS   WHEELER. 

namely,  by  "wild  fire"  in  coiton  and  linen  rags 
with  brimstone  in  them,  which  rags  they  tied  to  the 
piles  of  their  arrows,  sharp  for  the  purpose,  and  shot 
them  to  the  roof  of  our  house,  after  they  had  set 
them  on  fire  ;  which  would  have  much  endangered 
the  burning  thereof  had  we  not  used  means,  by  cutting 
holes  through  the  roof  and  otherwise,  to  beat  the  said 
arrows  down,  and  God  being  pleased  to  prosper  our 
endeavors  therein.  They  carried  more  combustible 
matter,  as  flax  and  hay,  to  the  sides  of  the  house  and 
set  it  on  fire,  and  then  flocked  apace  towards  the  door 
of  the  house,  either  to  prevent  our  going  forth  to 
quench  the  fire  as  we  had  done  before,  or  to  kill  our 
men  in  their  attempt  to  go  forth  ;  or  else  to  break 
into  the  house  by  the  door.  Whereupon  we  were 
forced  to  break  down  the  wall  of  the  house  against 
the  fire  to  put  it  out.  They  also  shot  a  ball  of"  wild 
fire"  into  the  garret  of  the  house,  which  fell  amongst 
a  great  heap  of  flax  or  tow  therein  ;  which  one  of  our 
soldiers  through  God's  good  Providence  soon  espied, 
and  having  water  ready,  presently  quenched  it.  And 
so  we  were  preserved  by  the  Keeper  of  Israel,  both 
our  bodies  from  their  shot,  which  they  sent  thick 
against  us,  and  the  house  from  being  consumed  to 
ashes,  although  we  were  but  weak  to  defend  our- 
selves ;  we  being  not  above  twenty  and  six  men  with 
those  of  that  small  town  who  were  able  for  any  ser- 
vice, and  our  enemies,  as  I  judged  them,  about  (if 
not  above)  three  hundred.    .    .    . 

On  Wednesday,  August  the  fourth,  the  Indians 
fortified  themselves  at  the  meeting-house,  and  the 
barn  belonging  to  our  house,  which  they  fortified 
both   at    the  great    doors  at    both    ends  with    posts, 


A   TRUE    NARRATIVE.  109 

rails,  boards,  and  hay  to  save  themselves  from  our 
shot.  They  also  devised  other  stratagems  to  fire 
our  house  on  the  night  following,  namely,  they 
took  a  cart,  and  filled  it  with  flax,  hay  and  candle- 
wood,  and  other  combustible  matter,  and  set  up 
planks  fastened  to  the  cart  to  save  themselves  from 
the  danger  of  our  shot.  Another  invention  they 
had,  to  make  the  more  sure  work  in  burning  the 
house  :  They  got  many  poles  of  a  considerable  length 
and  bigness  and  spliced  them  together  at  the  ends  one 
of  another,  and  made  a  carriage  of  them  about  four- 
teen rods  long,  setting  the  poles  in  two  rows  with 
piles  laid  cross  over  them  at  the  front  end,  and 
dividing  them,  said  poles,  about  three  foot  asunder, 
and  in  the  said  front  of  this  their  carriage  they  set 
a  barrel,  having  made  an  hole  through  both  heads, 
and  put  an  axle-tree  through  them,  to  which  they 
fastened  the  said  poles,  and  under  every  joint  of  the 
poles  where  they  were  spliced,  they  set  up  a  pair  of 
truckle  wheels  to  bear  up  the  said  carriages  ;  and  they 
loaded  the  front  or  fore-end  thereof  with  matter  fit 
for  firing,  as  hay,  and  flax,  and  chips,  etc.  Two 
of  these  instruments  they  prepared,  that  they  might 
convey  fire  to  the  house  with  the  more  safety  to 
themselves,  they  standing  at  such  a  distance  from  our 
shot  whilst  they  wheeled  them  to  the  house.  Great 
store  of  arrows  they  had  also  prepared  to  shoot  fire 
upon  the  house  that  night ;  which  we  found  after 
they  were  gone,  they  having  left  them  there.  But 
the  Lord  who  is  a  present  help  in  times  of  trouble, 
and  is  pleased  to  make  his  people's  extremity  his 
opportunity,  did  graciously  prevent  them  of  effect- 
ing what  they  hoped  they  should   have  done  by  the 


110  THOMAS    WHEELER. 

aforesaid  devices  ;  partly  by  sending  a  shower  of 
rain  in  season,  whereby  the  matter  prepared  being 
wet  would  not  so  easily  take  fire  as  it  otherwise 
would  have  done,  and  partly  by  aid  coming  to  our 
help.  For  our  danger  would  have  been  very  great 
that  night,  had  not  the  only  wise  God  (blessed  for- 
ever) been  pleased  to  send  to  us  about  an  hour 
within  night  the  worshipful  Major  Willard,  with 
Captain  Parker  of  Groton  and  forty-six  men  more 
with  five  Indians,  to  relieve  us  in  the  low  estate  into 
which  we  were  brought. 

Our  eyes  were  unto  Him  the  Holy  One  of 
Israel  ;  in  Him  we  desired  to  place  our  trust.  .  .  . 
And  God  who  comforteth  the  afflicted,  as  He  com- 
forted the  holy  Apostle  Paul  by  the  coming  of  Titus 
to  him,  so  He  greatly  comforted  us,  his  distressed 
servants,  both  soldiers  and  town  inhabitants,  by  the 
coming  of  the  said  honored  Major  and  those  with 
him.  In  whose  so  soon  coming  to  us  the  good 
Providence  of  God  did  marvellously  appear.  For 
the  help  that  came  to  us  by  the  honored  Council's 
order,  after  the  tidings  they  received  by  our  post  sent 
to  them,  came  not  to  us  till  Saturday,  August  7th,  in 
the  afternoon,  nor  sooner  could  it  well  come  in  regard 
of  their  distance  from  us,  i.e.,  if  we  had  not  had  help 
before  that  time,  we  see  not  how  we  could  have  held 
out,  the  number  of  the  Indians  so  increasing,  and  they 
making  so  many  assaults  upon  us,  that  our  ammunition 
before  that  time  would  have  been  spent  and  ourselves 
disenabled  for  any  resistance,  we  being  but  few,  and 
always  fain  to  stand  upon  our  defence,  that  we  had 
little  time  for  refreshment  of  ourselves  either  by  food 
or  sleep. 


PETER   FOLGER. 

Peter  Folger,  whose  name  as  a  New  England 
poet  is  embalmed  in  Franklin's  Autobiography,  was 
born  in  England,  1617,  and  died  at  Nantucket,  Mas- 
sachusetts, in  1690.  He  emigrated  to  New  Eng- 
land in  1635,  and  settled  first  in  Watertown,  then  in 
Martha's  Vineyard,  as  teacher,  surveyor,  and  assistant 
to  the  Indian  missionary,  Thomas  Mayhew.  He 
afterward  became  a  Baptist,  and  moved  in  1663  to 
Nantucket,  where  he  served  as  surveyor  and  inter- 
preter, and  for  a  time,  as  clerk  of  the  courts.  Cotton 
Mather  says  that  he  was  pious  and  learned.  His  chief 
poem,  A  Looking  Glass  for  the  Times,  or  the  Former 
Spirit  of  New  England  Revived  in  this  Generation 
(1675),  is  described  by  Franklin  as  having  been 
"written  with  manly  freedom  and  a  pleasing  simplic- 
ity agreeably  to  the  taste  of  the  times  and  the  coun- 
try." The  author  addresses  himself  to  the  Governors 
of  the  Colonies,  speaks  for  liberty  of  conscience, 
and  in  favor  of  the  toleration  of  sects,  among  them 
the  Quakers  and  Anabaptists,  who  had  suffered  per- 
secution. Folger  was  far  from  being  a  poet,  but  he 
was  a  man  of  sound  sense,  and  some  of  the  stanzas 
which  we  reproduce  have  not  lost  their  point  or  their 
application  to-day. 


12  PETER   FOLGER. 


A    DENUNCIATION    OF   WAR. 

If  that  the  peace  of  God  did  rule, 

with  power  in  our  heart, 
Then  outward  war  would  flee  away, 

and  rest  would  be  our  part. 

If  we  do  love  our  brethren, 

and  do  to  them,  I  say, 
As  we  would  they  should  do  to  us, 

we  should  be  quiet  straightway. 

But  if  that  we  a  smiting  go, 

of  fellow-servants  so, 
No  marvel  if  our  wars  increase 

and  things  so  heavy  go. 

'Tis  like  that  some  may  think  and  say 
our  war  would  not  remain, 

If  so  be  that  a  thousand  more 
of  natives  were  but  slain. 

Alas  !   these  are  but  foolish  thoughts, 
God  can  make  more  arise, 

And  if  that  there  were  none  at  all, 
he  can  make  war  with  flies. 

It  is  the  presence  of  the  Lord, 
must  make  our  foes  to  shake, 

Or  else  it's  like  he  will  ere  long 
know  how  to  make  us  quake. 


A   DENUNCIATION   OF   WAR.         113 

Let  us  lie  low  before  the  Lord, 

in  ail  humility, 
And  then  we  shall  with  Asa  see 

our  enemies  to  fly. 

But  if  that  we  do  leave  the  Lord, 

and  trust  in  fleshly  arm, 
Then  'tis  no  wonder  if  that  we 

do  hear  more  news  of  harm. 

Let's  have  our  faith  and  hope  in  God, 

and  trust  in  him  alone, 
And  then  no  doubt  this  storm  of  war 

it  quickly  will  be  gone. 

Thus,  reader,  I,  in  love  to  all, 

leave  these  few  lines  with  thee, 
Hoping  that  in  the  substance  we 

shall  very  well  agree. 

If  that  you  do  mistake  the  verse 

for  its  uncomely  dress, 
I  tell  thee  true,  I  never  thought 

that  it  would  pass  the  press. 

If  any  at  the  matter  kick, 

it's  like  he's  galled  at  heart, 
And  that's  the  reason  why  he  kicks, 

because  he  finds  it  smart. 

I  am  for  peace,  and  not  for  war, 

and  that's  the  reason  why 
I  write  more  plain  than  some  men  do, 

that  use  to  daub  and  lie. 


114  PETER   FOLGER. 

But  I  shall  cease  and  set  my  name 

to  what  I  here  insert, 
Because  to  be  a  libeller, 

I  hate  it  with  my  heart. 

From  Sherbon  town,  where  now  I  dwell, 

my  name  I  do  put  here, 
Without  offence  your  real  friend, 

it  is  Peter  Folger. 


WILLIAM    PENN. 

William  Penn,  the  founder  of  Pennsylvania,  in- 
troduces us  to  a  new  centre  of  literary  activity,  Phila- 
delphia, where  the  progress  of  education  and  culture, 
though  later  in  its  beginning,  was  more  rapid  than  in 
New  England.  It  was  but  a  few  years  after  its 
foundation  that  it  counted  among  its  citizens  men  of 
broad  culture  and  of  European  reputation.  Logan, 
Bartram,  Rittenhouse,  and  Godfrey  do  not  belong 
directly  to  our  subject ;  all  the  more  then  is  it 
fitting  to  pay  tribute  to  him  whose  liberal  mind 
gave  their  genius  scope  in  the  infant  colony.  Penn 
was  born  in  London,  1644,  and  died  in  Ruscombe, 
Berks,  in  1  7  1  8.  But  though  he  began,  ended,  and 
indeed  passed  a  great  part  of  his  life  in  England,  he 
is  identified  almost  entirely  with  America.  The  son 
of  an  admiral,  he  was  educated  first  in  London,  then 
in  Ireland,  then  at  Oxford,  where  he  became  con- 
spicuous as  a  follower  of  the  Quaker  Fox,  and  was 
expelled  from  the  University.  He  completed  his 
education  in  France,  travelling,  mingling  in  fashion- 
able society,  and  then  serving  on  his  father's  staff 
till,  in  1665,  the  London  plague  revived  his  religious 
fervor.  While  managing  the  family  estates  in  Ire- 
land in  1667,  he  openly  espoused  Quakerism.  Re- 
called to  England  and  estranged  from  his  family,  he 
preached    and    wrote    on    religious    subjects.      Being 

"5 


Il6  WILLIAM    PENN. 

harassed  by  the  police  and  once  imprisoned,  he  began 
to  take  much  interest  in  colonization,  and  having 
inherited  a  large  property,  sent  several  shiploads  of 
immigrants  to  America,  where  he  finally  accepted  a 
patent  of  land  in  lieu  of  money,  some  eighty  thou- 
sand dollars,  due  from  the  Government  to  his  father. 
This  was  in  1 68 1 .  In  September,  1682,  Penn 
took  formal  possession  of  his  new  territory,  pur- 
chasing from  the  Swedes  the  site  of  Philadelphia, 
negotiating  honorable  treaties  with  the  Indians,  pro- 
viding his  colonists  a  liberal  scheme  of  govern- 
ment, and  leaving  seven  thousand  of  them  behind  on 
his  return  to  England  in  1684.  He  again  visited 
America  in  1699,  and  soon  restored  peace  and  order 
to  a  colony  much  vexed  by  the  results  of  the  Revolu- 
tion of  1688.  He  showed  himself  a  wise  reformer, 
making  new  treaties  with  the  Indians,  and  ameliorat- 
ing the  condition  of  the  negroes.  He  returned  to 
England  in  1701.  His  later  years  were  troubled  by 
imprisonment,  for  conscience'  sake,  by  the  disgrace- 
ful conduct  of  his  son,  by  business  misadventures, 
and  failing  health.  For  the  last  six  years  of  his  life 
he  was  a  helpless  invalid.  The  simple  dignity  of  his 
character,  and  the  high  ideals  that  he  had  for  the 
colony  appear  in  the  letters  that  follow. 


LETTER    TO    RICHARD    TURNER. 

Dear  Friend  :  My  true  love  in  the  Lord  salutes 
thee  and  dear  friends  that  love  Lord's  precious  truths 
in  those  parts.  Thine  I  have,  and  for  my  business 
here,    know,    that    after  many   writings,    watchings, 


TO   THE    INDIANS.  117 

solicitings,  and  disputes  in  Council,  this  day  my 
country  was  confirmed  to  me  under  the  great  seal  of 
England,  with  large  powers  and  privileges,  by  the 
name  of  Pennsylvania  :  a  name  the  King  would  give 
it,  in  honor  to  my  father.  I  chose  New  Wales, 
being  as  this  a  pretty  healthy  country  ;  but  Penn 
being  Welch  for  a  head,  as  Penmanmore  in  Wales, 
Penrith  in  Cumberland,  and  Penn  in  Buckingham- 
shire, the  highest  land  in  England,  called  this  Penn- 
sylvania, which  is  the  high  or  head  wood  land  ;  for 
I  proposed,  when  the  Secretary  a  Welchman,  re- 
fused to  have  it  called  New  Wales,  Sylvania,  and 
they  added  Penn  to  it  :  and  though  I  much  opposed 
it,  and  went  to  the  King  to  have  it  struck  out  and 
altered  ;  he  said  it  was  passed,  and  he  would  take 
it  upon  him  —  nor  could  twenty  guineas  move  the 
under  Secretary  to  vary  the  name  ;  for  I  feared,  lest 
it  should  be  looked  upon  as  a  vanity  in  me,  and  not 
as  a  respect  to  my  father,  who  he  often  mentioned 
with  praise.  Thou  mayest  communicate  my  grant 
to  Friends,  and  expect  my  proposals  :  it  is  a  clear 
and  just  thing  ;  and  my  God  that  has  given  it  me, 
through  many  difficulties,  will,  I  believe,  bless  and 
make  it  the  seed  of  a  nation.  I  shall  have  a  tender 
care  to  the  government,  that  it  be  well  laid  at  first. 
No  more  now,  but  dear  love  in  the  truth. 

W.  Penn. 

1st  Month  5th.   1 68 1. 


1 8  WILLIAM    PENN. 


LETTER    TO    THE    INDIANS. 

My  Friends,  There  is  a  Great  God  and  Power, 
that  hath  made  the  world  and  all  things  therein,  to 
whom  you  and  I  and  all  people  owe  their  being  and 
well-being  ;  and  to  whom  you  and  I  must  one  day 
give  an  account  for  all  that  we  do  in  the  world.  This 
Great  God  hath  written  his  Law  in  our  hearts,  by 
which  we  are  taught  and  commanded  to  love  and  help, 
and  do  good  to  one  another,  and  not  to  do  harm  and 
mischief  unto  one  another.  Now  this  Great  God 
hath  been  pleased  to  make  me  concerned  in  your  part 
of  the  world,  and  the  king  of  the  country  where  I 
live  hath  given  me  a  great  province  therein  ;  but  I 
desire  to  enjoy  it  with  your  love  and  consent,  that  we 
may  always  live  together  as  neighbors  and  friends  ; 
else  what  would  the  Great  God  do  to  us  ?  who 
hath  made  us  not  to  devour  and  destroy  one  another, 
but  to  live  soberly  and  kindly  together  in  the  world. 
Now  I  would  have  you  well  observe  that  I  am  very 
sensible  of  the  unkindness  and  injustice  that  hath  been 
too  much  exercised  towards  you  by  the  people  of 
these  parts  of  the  world,  who  have  sought  themselves, 
and  to  make  great  advantages  by  you,  rather  than  to 
be  examples  of  justice  and  goodness  unto  you,  which 
I  hear  hath  been  matter  of  trouble  unto  you,  and 
caused  great  grudgings  and  animosities,  sometimes  to 
the  shedding  of  blood,  which  hath  made  the  Great 
God  angry.  But  I  am  not  such  a  man,  as  is  well 
known  in  my  own  country.  I  have  great  love  and 
regard  towards  you,  and  I  desire  to  win  and  gain 
your  love  and  friendship  by  a  kind,  just,  and  peace- 


TO   GOVERNOR   HINCKLEY.  I  19 

able  life,  and  the  people  I  send  are  of  the  same  mind, 
and  shall  in  all  things  behave  themselves  accordingly  ; 
and  if  in  any  thing  any  shall  offend  you  or  your  people, 
you  shall  have  a  full  and  speedy  satisfaction  for  the 
same,  by  an  equal  number  of  just  men  on  both  sides, 
that  by  no  means  you  may  have  just  occasion  of  being 
offended  against  them. 

I  shall  shortly  come  to  you  myself,. at  what  time 
we  may  more  largely  and  freely  confer  and  discourse 
of  these  matters  ;  in  the  mean  time  I  have  sent  my 
commissioners  to  treat  with  you  about  land,  and  a 
firm  league  of  peace.  — Let  me  desire  you  to  be  kind 
to  them  and  the  people,  and  receive  these  presents  and 
tokens  which  I  have  sent  you,  as  a  testimony  of  my 
good-will  to  you,  and  my  resolution  to  live  justly, 
peaceably,  and  friendly  with  you. 

I  am  your  loving  friend, 

W.  Penn. 

London,  the  18th  of  the  8th  month,  1681. 


LETTER   TO    GOVERNOR    HINCKLEY. 

Respected  Friend,  The  duty  and  decency  of 
my  station  as  a  Governour,  as  well  as  mine  own 
inclination,  oblige  me  to  begin  and  observe  a  kind 
and  friendly  correspondence  with  persons  in  the  like 
capacity  under  the  same  imperial  authority.  This 
single  consideration  is  inducement  enough  to  this 
Salute,  and  I  have  no  reason  to  doubt  its  acceptance, 
because  such  an  intercourse  is  recommended  both  by 
the  laws  of  Christianity  and  those  of  civil  policy; 
which  said,  Give  me  leave  to  wish  thee  and  the  people 


120  WILLIAM    PENN. 

under  thy  conduct  all  true  felicity,  and  to  assure  thee 
that  with  God's  assistance  I  shall  herein  endeavour  to 
acquit  and  behave  myself  worthy  of  the  title  and 
character  of 

Thy  Real  Friend 

and  Loving  Neighbour, 

Wm.  Penn. 

Philadelphia,  the  2  of  the  ™°  1683. 

I  take  the  freedom  to  present  thee  with  a  book. 
For  my  well-respected  Friend 
the  Governour 

of  Plymouth  Colony 

New  England. 


DANIEL    DENTON. 

Of  Daniel  Denton,  the  author  of  A  Brief  Descrip- 
tion of  New  York,  published  in  1670,  the  first  ac- 
count in  English  of  the  city  and  colony  that  were  to 
become  the  metropolis  oi'  a  hemisphere,  little  is  known 
save  that  he  settled  in  Jamaica,  Long  Island,  in  1656, 
being  one  of  the  founders  of  that  town,  and  a  resi- 
dent there  for  many  years.  He  was  obviously  a  close 
and  shrewd  observer,  but  with  little  grace  of  style, 
and  somewhat  devoid  of  a  sense  either  of  humor  or 
of  irony  as  is  shown  by  his  remark  about  the  Divine 
Hand  making  a  way  for  the  English  by  removing 
the  Indians  wherever  they  came  to  settle.  Yet  his 
very  matter  of  tact  statements  are  hardly  less  interest- 
ing for  their  inartistic  uncouthness. 

A    TERRESTRIAL   CANAAN. 

[From    «'  A    Brief    Description   of    New  York." 
1670.] 

New  York  is  built  most  of  brick  and  stone,  and 
covered  with  red  and  black  tile,  and  the  land  being 
high,  it  gives  at  a  distance  a  pleasing  aspect  to  the 
spectators.  The  inhabitants  consist  most  of  English 
and  Dutch,  and  have  a  considerable  trade  with  the 
Indians,  for  beavers,  otters,  raccoon  skins,  with  other 


122  DANIEL   DENTON. 

furs ;  as  also  for  bear,  deer,  and  elk  skins ;  and  are 
supplied  with  venison  and  fowl  in  the  winter  and  fish 
in  the  summer  by  the  Indians,  which  they  buy  at  an 
easy  rate ;  and  having  the  country  round  about  them, 
they  are  continually  furnished  with  all  such  provisions 
as  is  needful  for  the  life  of  man,  not  only  by  the  Eng- 
lish and  Dutch  within  their  own,  but  likewise  by  the 
adjacent  Colonies. 

The  commodities  vented  from  thence  is  furs  and 
skins  before-mentioned  ;  as  likewise  tobacco  made 
within  the  Colony,  as  good  as  is  usually  made  in 
Mary-land  ;  also  horses,  beef,  pork,  oil,  pease,  wheat, 
and  the  like. 

Long  Island,  the  west  end  of  which  lies  southward 
of  New  York,  runs  eastward  above  one  hundred  miles, 
and  is  in  some  places  eight,  in  some  twelve,  in  some 
fourteen  miles  broad.  It  is  inhabited  from  one  end 
to  the  other.  On  the  west  end  is  four  or  five  Dutch 
towns,  the  rest  being  all  English,  to  the  number  of 
twelve,  besides  villages  and  farm-houses.  The  Isl- 
and is  most  of  it  of  a  very  good  soil,  and  very  natu- 
ral for  all  sorts  of  English  grain,  which  they  sow  and 
have  very  good  increase  of,  besides  all  other  fruits  and 
herbs  common  in  England;  as  also  tobacco,  hemp, 
flax,  pumpkins,  melons,  etc. 

For  wild  beasts,  there  is  deer,  bear,  wolves,  foxes, 
raccoons,  otters,  musquashes,  and  skunks.  Wild  fowl 
there  is  great  store  of,  as  turkeys,  heath-hens,  quails, 
partridges,  pigeons,  cranes,  geese  of  several  sorts, 
brants,  ducks,  widgeon,  teal,  and  divers  others. 
There  is  also  the  red-bird,  with  divers  sorts  of  sing- 
ing-birds, whose  chirping  notes  salute  the  ears  of  trav- 
ellers with  an  harmonious  discord  ;   and  in  every  pond 


DESCRIPTION    OF    NEW   YORK.       1 23 

and  brook  green  silken  frogs,  who,  warbling  forth  their 
untuned  tunes,  strive  to  bear  a  part  in  this  music. 

Towards  the  middle  of  Long  Island  lieth  a  plain 
sixteen  miles  long  and  four  broad,  upon  which  plain 
grows  very  fine  grass,  that  makes  exceeding  good  hay, 
and  is  very  good  pasture  for  sheep  or  other  cattle ; 
where  you  shall  find  neither  stick  nor  stone  to  hinder 
the  horse  heels,  or  endanger  them  in  their  races  ;  and 
once  a  year  the  best  horses  in  the  Island  are  brought 
hither  to  try  their  swiftness,  and  the  swiftest  rewarded 
with  a  silver  cup,  two  being  annually  procured  for  that 
purpose.  There  are  two  or  three  other  small  plains 
of  about  a  mile  square,  which  are  no  small  benefit  to 
those  towns  which  enjoy  them. 

Upon  the  south  side  of  Long  Island  in  the  winter  lie 
store  of  whales  and  crampasses,  which  the  inhabitants 
begin  with  small  boats  to  make  a  trade,  catching  to 
their  no  small  benefit.  Also  an  innumerable  multi- 
tude of  seals,  which  make  an  excellent  oil.  They  lie 
all  the  winter  upon  some  broken  marshes  and  beaches,  or 
bars  of  sand  before-mentioned,  and  might  be  easily  got 
were  there  some  skilful  men  would  undertake  it.    .    .    . 

Within  two  leagues  of  New  York  lieth  Staten  Isl- 
and. It  bears  from  New  York  west  something  south- 
erly. It  is  about  twenty  miles  long,  and  four  or  five 
broad.  It  is  most  of  it  very  good  land,  full  of  timber, 
and  produceth  all  such  commodities  as  Long  Island 
doth,  besides  tin  and  store  of  iron  ore  ;  and  the  cala- 
mine stone  is  said  likewise  to  be  found  there.  There 
is  but  one  town  upon  it,  consisting  of  English  and 
French,  but  is  capable  of  entertaining  more  inhabi- 
tants ;  betwixt  this  and  Long  Island  is  a  large  bay, 
and  is  the  coming  in  for  all  ships  and  vessels  out  of 


124  DANIEL   DENTON. 

the  sea.  On  the  north  side  of  this  Island  Afterskull 
River  puts  into  the  main-land  on  the  west  side,  whereof 
is  two  or  three  towns,  but  on  the  east  side  but  one. 
There  is  very  great  marshes  or  meadows  on  both 
sides  of  it,  excellent  good  land,  and  good  convenience 
for  the  settling  of  several  towns  ;  there  grows  black 
walnut  and  locust,  as  there  doth  in  Virginia,  with 
mighty  tall,  straight  timber,  as  good  as  any  in  the 
North  of  America.  It  produceth  any  commodity 
Long  Island  doth.    .    .    . 

To  give  some  satisfaction  to  people  that  shall  be 
desirous  to  transport  themselves  thither  (the  country 
being  capable  of  entertaining  many  thousands),  how 
and  after  what  manner  people  live,  and  how  land  may 
be  procured,  etc.,  —  I  shall  answer,  that  the  usual 
way  is  for  a  company  of  people  to  join  together,  either 
enough  to  make  a  town,  or  a  lesser  number  ;  these  go 
with  the  consent  of  the  governor,  and  view  a  tract  of 
land,  there  being  choice  enough,  and  finding  a  place 
convenient  for  a  town,  they  return  to  the  governor, 
who  upon  their  desire  admits  them  into  the  Colony, 
and  gives  them  a  grant  or  patent  for  the  said  land,  for 
themselves  and  associates.  These  persons  being  thus 
qualified,  settle  the  place,  and  take  in  what  inhabitants 
to  themselves  they  shall  see  cause  to  admit  of,  till  their 
town  be  full ;  these  associates  thus  taken  in  have  equal 
privileges  with  themselves,  and  they  make  a  division 
of  the  land  suitable  to  every  man's  occasions,  no  man 
being  debarred  of  such  quantities  as  he  hath  occasion 
for  ;  the  rest  they  let  lie  in  common  till  they  have 
occasion  for  a  new  division,  never  dividing  their 
pasture-land  at  all,  which  lies  in  common  to  the 
whole    town.      The    best    commodities    for    any    to 


DESCRIPTION    OF    NEW   YORK.       1 25 

carry  with  them  is  clothing,  the  country  being  full 
of  all  sorts  of  cattle,  which  they  may  furnish  them- 
selves withal  at  an  easy  rate,  for  any  sorts  of  English 
goods,  as  likewise  instruments  for  husbandry  and  build- 
ing, with  nails,  hinges,  glass,  and  the  like.  For  the 
manner  how  they  get  a  livelihood,  it  is  principally  by 
corn  and  cattle,  which  will  there  fetch  them  any 
commodities  ;  likewise  they  sow  store  of  flax,  which 
they  make  every  one  cloth  of  for  their  own  wearing, 
as  also  woolen  cloth  and  linsey-woolsey,  and  had  they 
more  tradesmen  amongst  them,  they  would  in  a  little 
time  live  without  the  help  of  any  other  country  for 
their  clothing.  For  tradesmen,  there  is  none  but 
live  happily  there,  as  carpenters,  blacksmiths,  masons, 
tailors,  weavers,  shoemakers,  tanners,  brickmakers, 
and  so  any  other  trade  ;  them  that  have  no  trade 
betake  themselves  to  husbandry,  get  land  of  their 
own,   and  live  exceeding  well. 

Thus  have  I  briefly  given  you  a  relation  of  New 
York,  with  the  places  thereunto  adjoyning  ;  ,in  which, 
if  I  have  erred,  it  is  principally  in  not  giving  it  its 
due  commendation  ;  for  besides  those  earthly  blessings 
where  it  is  stored,  heaven  hath  not  been  wanting  to 
open  his  treasure,  in  sending  down  seasonable  showers 
upon  the  earth,  blessing  it  with  a  sweet  and  pleasant 
air,  and  a  continuation  of  such  influences  as  tend  to 
the  health  both  of  man  and  beast  :  and  the  climate 
hath  such  an  affinity  with  that  of  England  that  it 
breeds  ordinarily  no  alteration  to  those  which  remove 
thither  ;  that  the  name  of  seasoning,  which  is  com- 
mon to  some  other  countries,  hath  never  there  been 
known  ;  that  I  may  say,  and  say  truly,  that  if  there 
be  any  terrestrial  happiness  to  be  had  by  people  of  all 


/26  DANIEL   DENTON. 

ranks,  especially  of  an  inferior  rank,  it  must  certainly 
be  here.  Here  any  one  may  furnish  himself  with 
land,  and  live  rent-free  —  yea,  with  such  a  quantity 
of  land  that  he  may  weary  himself  with  walking  over 
his  fields  of  corn  and  all  sorts  of  grain.  And  let  his 
stock  of  cattle  amount  to  some  hundreds,  he  needs  not 
fear  their  want  of  pasture  in  the  summer  or  fodder  in 
the  winter,  the  woods  affording  sufficient  supply.  For 
the  summer  season,  where  you  have  grass  as  high  as  a 
man's  knees,  —  nay,  as  high  as  his  waist,  —  interlaced 
with  pea-vines  and  other  weeds  that  cattle  much  delight 
in,  as  much  as  a  man  can  press  through  ;  and  these 
woods  also  every  mile  or  half  mile  are  furnished  with 
fresh  ponds,  brooks  or  rivers,  where  all  sorts  of  cattle, 
during  the  heat  of  the  day,  do  quench  their  thirst  and 
cool  themselves  ;  these  brooks  and  rivers  being  envi- 
roned of  each  side  with  several  sorts  of  trees  and  grape- 
vines, the  vines,  arbor-like,  interchanging  places  and 
crossing  these  rivers,  does  shade  and  shelter  them  from 
the  scorching  beams  of  Sol's  fiery  influence.  Here 
those  which  Fortune  hath  frowned  upon  in  England, 
to  deny  them  an  inheritance  amongst  their  brethren, 
or  such  as  by  their  utmost  labors  can  scarcely  procure 
a  living  —  I  say  such  may  procure  here  inheritances 
of  lands  and  possessions,  stock  themselves  with  all 
sorts  of  cattle,  enjoy  the  benefit  of  them  whilst  they 
live,  and  leave  them  to  the  benefit  of  their  children 
when  they  die.  Here  you  need  not  trouble  the 
shambles  for  meat,  nor  bakers  and  brewers  for  beer 
and  bread,  nor  run  to  a  linen-draper  for  a  supply, 
every  one  making  their  own  linen  and  a  great  part 
of  their  woolen  cloth  for  their  ordinary  wearing. 
And  how  prodigal,   if  I  may  so  say,   hath    Nature 


DESCRIPTION    OF    NEW   YORK.       1 27 

been  to  furnish  the  country  with  all  sorts  of  wild 
beasts  and  fowl  !  which  every  one  hath  an  interest 
in,  and  may  hunt  at  his  pleasure  ;  where,  besides 
the  pleasure  in  hunting,  he  may  furnish  his  house 
with  excellent  fat  venison,  turkeys,  geese,  heath- 
hens,  cranes,   swans,   ducks,    pigeons,   and   the  like, 

—  and  wearied  with  that,  he  may  go  a-fishing  ; 
where  the  rivers  are  so  furnished,  that  he  may  supply 
himself  with  fish  before  he  can  leave  off"  the  recreation  : 

—  where  you  may  travel  by  land  upon  the  same  con- 
tinent hundreds  of  miles,  and  pass  through  towns  and 
villages,  and  never  hear  the  least  complaint  for  want, 
nor  hear  any  ask  you  for  a  farthing  ;  where  you  may 
lodge  in  the  fields  and  woods,  travel  from  one  end  of 
the  country  to  another,  with  as  much  security  as  if 
you  were  locked  within  your  own  chamber  ;  and  if 
you  chance  to  meet  with  an  Indian  town,  they  shall 
give  you  the  best  entertainment  they  have,  and,  upon 
your  desire,  direct  you  on  your  way.  But  that  which 
adds  happiness  to  all  the  rest,  is  the  healthfulness  of 
the  place  ;  where  many  people  in  twenty  years'  time 
never  know  what  sickness  is  ;  where  they  look  upon 
it  as  a  great  mortality  if  two  or  three  die  out  of  a  town 
in  a  year's  time  ;  where,  besides  the  sweetness  of  the 
air,  the  country  itself  sends  forth  such  a  fragrant  smell 
that  it  may  be  perceived  at  sea  before  they  can  make 
the  land  ;  where  no  evil  fog  or  vapor  doth  no  sooner 
appear  but  a  north-west  or  westerly  wind  doth  imme- 
diately dissolve  it  and  drive  it  away.  What  shall  I 
say  more  ?  You  shall  scarce  see  a  house  but  the 
south  side  is  begirt  with  hives  of  bees,  which  increase 
after  an  incredible  manner  :  —  That  I  must  needs  say, 
that  if  there  be  any  terrestrial  Canaan,  't  is  surely  here, 


128  DANIEL   DENTON. 

where  the  land  floweth  with  milk  and  honey.  The 
inhabitants  are  blest  with  peace  and  plenty,  blessed  in 
their  country,  blessed  in  their  fields,  blessed  in  the 
fruit  of  their  bodies,  in  the  fruit  of  their  grounds,  in 
the  increase  of  their  cattle,  horses,  and  sheep,  blessed  in 
their  basket,  and  in  their  store.  In  a  word,  blessed 
in  whatsoever  they  take  in  hand  or  go  about,  the  earth 
yielding  plentiful  increase  to  all  their  painful  labors. 


GEORGE    ALSOP 

George  Alsop,  the  only  literary  representative  of 
Maryland,  included  within  this  volume,  was  born  in 
London,  in  1638,  and  had  been  apparently  an  appren- 
tice there  before  he  emigrated  to  the  colonies  as  an 
indentured  servant  in  1658.  Little  is  known  of 
his  life,  but  it  may  be  inferred  that  he  was  a  pro- 
nounced opponent  of  Cromwell,  for  some  rugged 
verses,  scattered  through  his  book  are  devoted  to  exe- 
cration of  the  Lord  Protector.  Other  outbursts  of 
his  "  melancholy  Muse"  are  of  a  jovial,  ribald,  and 
even  occasionally  obscene  character,  almost  unique  in 
colonial  writings.  But  regrettable  as  this  may  be, 
Alsop's  book  is  as  entertaining  as  anything  that  sev- 
enteenth century  America  produced.  It  bears  the 
quaint  and  somewhat  cumbrous  title  A  Character 
of  the  Province  of  Maryland,  also  a  Small  Treatise 
on  the  Wild  and  Naked  Indians  or  Susquehanokes  of 
Maryland,  their  Customs,  Manners,  Absurdities, 
and  Religion.  It  is  dated  1666,  and  has  been  twice 
republished  (  1  869,  1880).  He  describes  the  Arca- 
dian liberty  and  virtue  of  the  province  sympatheti- 
cally, the  Susquehanna  Indians  entertainingly,  and  his 
experiences  during  servitude  graphically.  His  letters 
to  his  re\atives  in  which  his  experiences  are  narrated 
are  not  models  of  epistolary  style,  but  they  are  full 
of  life,  and  by  no  means  devoid  of  humor. 
129 


130  GEORGE   ALSOP. 


MARYLAND    FISH. 

[From  "  A  Character  of  the  Province  of  Mary- 
land/' London,   1666,  Chap.  I.] 

As  for  fish  which  dwell  in  the  watery  tenements 
of  the  deep,  and  by  a  providential  greatness  of  power, 
is  kept  for  the  relief  of  several  countries  in  the  world 
(which  would  else  sink  under  the  rigid  enemy  of 
want),  here  in  Mary-land  is  a  large  sufficiency,  and 
plenty  of  almost  all  sorts  of  fishes,  which  live  and 
inhabit  within  her  several  rivers  and  creeks,  far  beyond 
the  apprehending  or  crediting  of  those  that  never  saw 
the  same,  and,  which  with  very  much  ease  is  catched, 
to  the  great  refreshment  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
province. 


-OF  THE    GOVERNMENT    AND     NATU- 
RAL   DISPOSITION    OF    THE    PEOPLE." 

[From  the  Same,  Chap.  II.] 

Maryland,  not  from  the  remoteness  of  her  situa- 
tion, but  from  the  regularity  of  her  well-ordered  gov- 
ernment, may  (without  sin,  I  think)  be  called  singu- 
lar :  And  though  she  is  not  supported  with  such 
large  revenues  as  some  of  her  neighbors  are,  yet  such 
is  her  wisdom  in  a  reserved  silence,  and  not  in  pomp, 
to  shew  her  well-conditioned  estate,  in  relieving  at  a 
distance  the  proud  poverty  of  those  that  wont  be  seen 
they  want,  as  well  as  those  which   by  undeniable  ne- 


GOVERNMENT   AND    PEOPLE.         131 

cessities  are  drove  upon  the  rocks  of  pinching  wants  : 
Yet  such  a  loathsome  creature  is  a  common  and  fold- 
ing-handed beggar,  that  upon  the  penalty  of  almost 
a  perpetual  working  in  imprisonment,  they  are  not  to 
appear,  nor  lurk  near  our  vigilant  and  laborious  dwell- 
ings. The  country  hath  received  a  general  spleen 
and  antipathy  against  the  very  name  and  nature  of  it  ; 
and  though  there  were  no  law  provided,  (as  there  is) 
to  suppress  it,  I  am  certainly  confident,  there  is  none 
within  the  Province  that  would  lower  themselves  so 
much  below  the  dignity  of  men  to  beg,  as  long  as 
limbs  and  life  keep  house  together  ;  so  much  is  a  vigi- 
lant industrious  care  esteem' d. 

He  that  desires  to  see  the  real  platform  of  a  quiet 
and  sober  government  extant,  superiority  with  a  meek 
and  yet  commanding  power  sitting  at  the  helm,  steer- 
ing the  actions  of  a  state  quietly,  through  the  multi- 
tude and  diversity  of  opinionous  waves  that  diversly 
meet;  let  him  look  on  Mary-Land  with  eyes  admiring, 
and  he'le  then  judge  her,  The  Miracle  of  this  Age. 

Here  the  Roman  Catholic,  and  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal, (whom  the  world  would  persuade  have  pro- 
claimed open  wars  irrevocably  against  each  other) 
contrary  wise  concur  in  an  unanimous  parallel  of  friend- 
ship, and  inseparable  love  entailed  unto  one  another  : 
All  inquisitions,  martyrdom,  and  banishments  are  not 
so  much  as  named,  but  unexpressibly  abhorr'd  by 
each  other. 

The  several  opinions  and  sects  that  lodge  within 
this  government,  meet  not  together  in  mutinous  con- 
tempts to  disquiet  the  "power  that  bears  rule,  but  with 
a  reverend  quietness  obeys  the  legal  commands  of 
authority.      Here's  never  seen    Five   Monarchies  in  a 


132  GEORGE    ALSOP. 

zealous  rebellion,  opposing  the  rights  and  liberties  of 
a  true  settled  government,  or  monarchical  authority : 
Nor  did  I  ever  see  (here  in  Mary-Land)  any  of  those 
dancing  Adamitical  Sisters  that  plead  a  primitive  inno- 
cency  for  their  base  obscenity  and  naked  deportment  ; 
but  I  conceive  if  some  of  them  were  there  at  some 
certain  time  of  the  year,  between  the  months  of  Jan- 
uary and  February,  when  the  winds  blow  from  the 
north-west  quarter  of  the  world,  that  it  would  both 
cool,  and  (I  believe)  convert  the  hottest  of  these 
Zealots.    .    .    . 

And  I  really  believe  this  land  or  government  of 
Mary-Land  may  boast,  that  she  enjoys  as  much 
quietness  from  disturbance  of  rebellious  opinions,  as 
most  states  or  kingdoms  do  in  the  world  :  For  here 
every  man  lives  quietly,  and  follows  his  labor  and 
employment  desiredly  ;  and  by  the  protection  of  the 
laws,  they  are  supported  from  those  molestious 
troubles  that  ever  attend  upon  the  commons  of  other 
states  and  kingdoms,  as  well  as  from  the  aquafortial 
operation  of  great  and  eating  taxes.  Here's  nothing 
to  be  levied  out  of  the  granaries  of  corn  ;  but  contrary- 
wise,  by  a  law  every  domestic  governor  of  a  family 
is  enjoined  to  make  or  cause  to  be  made  so  much  corn 
by  a  just  limitation,  as  shall  be  sufficient  for  him  and 
his  family  :  So  that  by  this  wise  and  Fanus-Wke  prov- 
idence, the  thin  jawed  skeleton  with  his  starv'd  car- 
cass is  never  seen  walking  the  woods  of  Mary-Land 
to  afTrighten  children. 

Once  every  year  within  this  province  is  an  assem- 
bly called,  and  out  of  every  respective  county  (by  the 
consent  of  the  people)  there  is  chosen  a  number  of 
men,  and  to  them  is  deliver' d  up  the  grievances  of 


GOVERNMENT   AND    PEOPLE.         1 33 

the  country  ;  and  they  maturely  debate  the  matters, 
and  according  to  their  consciences  make  laws  for  the 
general  good  of  the  people  ;  and  where  any  former 
law  that  was  made,  seems  and  is  prejudicial  to  the 
good  or  quietness  of  the  land,  it  is  repeal'd.  These 
men  that  determine  on  these  matters  for  the  Repub- 
lique,  are  called  Burgesses,  and  they  commonly  sit  in 
junto  about  six  weeks,  being  for  the  most  part  good 
ordinary  householders  of  the  several  counties,  which 
do  more  by  a  plain  and  honest  conscience,  then  by 
artificial  syllogisms  drest  up  in  gilded  orations. 

Here  suits  and  trials  in  law  seldom  hold  dispute 
two  terms  or  courts,  but  according  as  the  equity  of 
the  cause  appears  is  brought  to  a  period,  the  Temples 
and  Grays- Inn  are  clear  out  of  fashion  here  :  Marriot 
would  sooner  get  a  paunch-devouring  meal  for  nothing, 
then  for  his  invading  counsel.  Here  if  the  Lawyer 
had  nothing  else  to  maintain  him  but  his  bawling,  he 
might  button  up  his  chops,  and  burn  his  buckram  bag, 
or  else  hang  it  upon  a  pin  until  its  antiquity  had  eaten 
it  up  with  dirt  and  dust  :  Then  with  a  spade,  like  his 
grandsire  Adam,  turn  up  the  face  of  creation,  purchas- 
ing his  bread  by  the  sweat  of  his  brows,  that  before 
was  got  by  the  motionated  water-works  of  his  jaws. 
So  contrary  to  the  genius  of  the  people,  if  not  to  the 
quiet  government  of  the  Province,  that  the  turbulent 
spirit  of  continued  and  vexatious  law,  with  all  its 
quirks  and  evasions,  is  .openly  and  most  eagerly 
opposed,  that  might  make  matters  either  dubious, 
tedious,  or  troublesome.  All  other  matters  that 
would  be  ranging  in  contrary  and  improper  spheres, 
(in  short)  are  here  by  the  power  moderated,  lower'd, 
and  subdued.      All  villainous  outrages  that  are  com- 


134  GEORGE    ALSOP. 

mitted  in  other  states,  are  not  so  much  as  known 
here  :  A  man  may  walk  in  the  open  woods  as  secure 
from  being  externally  dissected,  as  in  his  own  house 
or  dwelling.  So  hateful  is  a  robber,  that  if  but 
once  imagin'd  to  be  so,  he's  kept  at  a  distance,  and 
shun'd  as  the  pestilential  noisomeness. 

It  is  generally  and  very  remarkably  observed,  That 
those  whose  lives  and  conversations  have  had  no  other 
gloss  nor  glory  stampt  on  them  in  their  own  country, 
but  the  stigmatization  of  baseness,  were  here  (by  the 
common  civilities  and  deportments  of  the  inhabitants 
of  this  Province)  brought  to  detest  and  loath  their 
former  actions.  Here  the  constable  hath  no  need  of 
a  train  of  Holberteers  [Halberdeers]  ,  that  carry  more 
armor  about  them,  then  heart  to  guard  him  :  Nor  is  he 
ever  troubled  to  leave  his  feathered  nest  to  some  friendly 
successor,  while  he  is  placing  of  his  lanthern-horn 
guard  at  the  end  of  some  suspicious  street.  .  .  . 
Here's  no  Nevvgates  for  pilfering  felons,  nor  Lud- 
gates  for  debtors,  nor  any  Bridewells  to  lash  the  soul 
of  concupiscence  into  a  chaste  repentance.  For 
as  there  is  none  of  these  prisons  in  Mary-Land,  so 
the  merits  of  the  country  deserves  none,  but  if  any 
be  foully  virtuous,  he  is  so  reserv'd  in  it,  that  he 
seldom  or  never  becomes  popular.  Common  ale- 
houses, (whose  dwellings  are  the  only  receptacles 
of  debauchery  and  baseness,  and  those  schools  that 
trains  up  youth,  as  well  as  age  to  ruin)  in  this 
Province  there  are  none  ;  neither  hath  youth  his 
swing  or  range  in  such  a  profuse  and  unbridled  liberty 
as  in  other  countries  ;  for  from  an  ancient  custom  at 
the  primitive  seating  of  the  place,  the  son  works  as 
well  as  the  servant,  (an  excellent  cure  for  untam'd 


GOVERNMENT   AND    PEOPLE.         1 35 

youth)  so  that  before  they  eat  their  bread,  they  are 
commonly  taught  how  to  earn  it  ;  which  makes  them 
by  that  time  age  speaks  them  capable  of  receiving  that 
which  their  parents'  indulgency  is  ready  to  give  them, 
and  which  partly  is  by  their  own  laborious  industry 
purchased,  they  manage  it  with  such  a  serious,  grave, 
and  watching  care,  as  if  they  had  been  masters  of 
families,  trained  up  in  that  domestic  and  governing 
power  from  their  cradles.  These  christian  natives  of 
the  land,  especially  those  of  the  masculine  sex,  are  gen- 
erally conveniently  confident,  reservedly  subtle,  quick 
in  apprehending,  but  slow  in  resolving  ;  and  where 
they  spy  profit  sailing  towards  them  with  the  wings 
of  a  prosperous  gale,  there  they  become  much  familiar. 
The  women  differ  something  in  this  point,  though  not 
much  :  They  are  extreme  bashful  at  the  first  view,  but 
after  a  continuance  of  time  hath  brought  them  ac- 
quainted, there  they  become  discreetly  familiar,  and 
are  much  more  talkative  than  men.  All  complemental 
courtships,  drest  up  in  critical  rarities,  are  mere 
strangers  to  them,  plain  wit  comes  nearest  their 
genius  ;  so  that  he  that  intends  to  court  a  Mary-Land 
girl,  must  have  something  more  than  the  tautologies 
of  a  long-winded  speech  to  carry  on  his  design,  or 
else  he  may  (for  aught  I  know)  fall  under  the  con- 
tempt of  her  frown,  and  his  own  windy  oration. 

One  great  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  Province 
are  desiredly  zealous,  great  pretenders  to  holiness  ; 
and  where  any  thing  appears  that  carries  on  the 
frontispiece  of  its  effigies  the  stamp  of  religion,  though 
fundamentally  never  so  imperfect,  they  are  suddenly 
taken  with  it,  and  out  of  an  eager  desire  to  any  thing 
that's    new,    not   weighing    the    sure    matter    in    the 


136  GEORGE    ALSOP. 

balance  of  reason,  are  very  apt  to  be  catcht. 
Quakerism  is  the  only  opinion  that  bears  the  bell 
away  :  The  Anabaptists  have  little  to  say  here,  as 
well  as  in  other  places,  since  the  Ghost  of  John  of 
Leyden  haunts  their  Conventicles.  The  Adamite, 
Ranter,  and  Fifth- Monarchy  men,  Mary-Land  can- 
not, nay  will  not  digest  within  her  liberal  stomach 
such  corroding  morsels  :  So  that  this  Province  is  an 
utter  enemy  to  blasphemous  and  zealous  imprecations, 
drain' d  from  the  limbec  of  hellish  and  damnable 
spirits,  as  well  as  profuse  prophaneness,  that  issues 
from  the  prodigality  of  none  but  crackt-brain  Scots. 

'Tis  said  the  Gods  lower  down  that  chain  above 
That  ties  both  prince  and  subject  up  in  love  j 
And  if  this  fiction  of  the  gods  be  true, 
Few,  MARY-LAND,  in  this  can  boast  but  you  : 
Live  ever  blest,  and  let  those  clouds  that  do 
Eclipse  most  states,  be  always  lights  to  you  $ 
And  dwelling  so,  you  may  for  ever  be 
The  only  Emblem  of  tranquility. 


"A  RELATION  OF  THE  CUSTOMS,  MAN- 
NERS, ABSURDITIES,  AND  RELIGION 
OF  THE  SUSQUEHANOCK  INDIANS  IN 
AND  NEAR  MARYLAND." 

[From  the  Same.] 

The  Indians  paint  upon  their  faces  one  stroke  of 
red,  another  of  green,  another  of  white,  and  another 
of  black,  so  that  when  they  have  accomplished  the 
equipage  of  their  countenance  in  this  trim,  they  are 
the  only   Hieroglyphics   and    Representatives   of  the 


THE    SUSQUEHANOCK    INDIANS.     1 37 

Furies.  Their  skins  are  naturally  white,  but  altered 
from  their  originals  by  the  several  dyeings  of  roots 
and  barks,  that  they  prepare  and  make  useful  to  meta- 
morphize  their  hides  into  a  dark  cinnamon  brown. 
The  hair  of  their  head  is  black,  long  and  harsh,  but 
where  Nature  hath  appointed  the  situation  of  it  any- 
where else,  they  divert  it  (by  an  ancient  custom)  from 
its  growth,  by  pulling  it  up  hair  by  hair  by  the  root 
in  its  primitive  appearance.  Several  of  them  wear 
divers  impressions  on  their  breasts  and  arms,  as  the  pic- 
ture of  the  Devil,  bears,  tigers,  and  panthers,  which 
are  imprinted  on  their  several  lineaments  with  much 
difficulty  and  pain,  with  an  irrevocable  determination 
of  its  abiding  there  :  and  this  they  count  a  badge  of 
heroic  valor,  and  the  only  ornament  due  to  their 
heroes. 

These  Susquehanock  Indians  are  for  the  most  part 
great  warriors,  and  seldom  sleep  one  summer  in  the 
quiet  arms  of  a  peaceable  rest,  but  keep  (by  their  pres- 
ent power,  as  well  as  by  their  former  conquest)  the 
several  Nations  of  Indians  round  about  them  in  a 
forcible  obedience  and  subjection. 

When  they  determine  to  go  upon  some  design  that 
will  and  doth  require  a  consideration,  some  six  of 
them  get  into  a  corner,  and  sit  in  Junto  ;  and  if 
thought  fit,  their  business  is  made  popular,  and  imme- 
diately put  into  action  ;  if  not,  they  make  a  full  stop 
to  it,  and  are  silently  reserved. 

The  warlike  equipage  they  put  themselves  in  when 
they  prepare  for  Belona's  march,  is  with  their  faces, 
arms,  and  breasts  confusedly  painted,  their  hair  greased 
with  bears'  oil,  and  stuck  thick  with  swans'  feathers, 
with  a  wreath  or  diadem  of  black  and   white  beads 


138  GEORGE  ALSOP. 

upon  their  heads,  a  small  hatchet,  instead  of  a  cimeter, 
stuck  in  their  girts  behind  them,  and  either  with  guns, 
or  bows  and  arrows.  In  this  posture  and  dress  they 
march  out  from  their  fort,  or  dwelling,  to  the  number 
of  forty  in  a  troop,  sirtging  (or  rather  howling  out) 
the  decades  or  warlike  exploits  of  their  ancestors, 
ranging  the  wild  woods  until  their  fury  has  met  with 
an  enemy  worthy  of  their  revenge.  What  prisoners 
fall  into  their  hands  by  the  destiny  of  war,  they  treat 
them  very  civilly  while  they  remain  with  them  abroad, 
but  when  they  once  return  homewards,  they  then 
begin  to  dress  them  in  the  habit  for  death,  putting  on 
their  heads  and  arms  wreaths  of  beads,  greasing  their 
hair  with  fat,  some  going  before,  and  the  rest  behind, 
at  equal  distance  from  their  prisoners,  bellowing  in  a 
strange  and  confused  manner,  which  is  a  true  presage 
and  forerunner  of  destruction  to  their  then  conquered 
enemy. 

As  for  their  religion,  together  with  their  rites  and 
ceremonies,  they  are  so  absurd  and  ridiculous,  that  it's 
almost  a  sin  to  name  them.  They  own  no  other 
deity  than  the  Devil  (solid  or  profound),  but  with  a 
kind  of  a  wild  imaginary  conjecture,  they  suppose 
from  their  groundless  conceits,  that  the  world  had  a 
Maker,  but  where  he  is  that  made  it,  or  whether  he 
be  living  to  this  day,  they  know  not.  The  Devil, 
as  1  said  before,  is  all  the  God  they  own  or  worship  ; 
and  that  more  out  of  a  slavish  fear  than  any  real  rev- 
erence to  his  infernal  or  diabolical  greatness,  he  forc- 
ing them  to  their  obedience  by  his  rough  and  rigid 
dealing  with  them,  often  appearing  visibly  among  them 
to  their  terror,  bastinadoing  them  (with  cruel  men- 
aces) even  unto  death,  and  burning  their  fields  of  corn 


THE    SUSQUEHANOCK    INDIANS.      1 39 

and  houses,  that  the  relation  thereof  makes  them  trem- 
ble themselves  when  they  tell  it. 

Once  in  four  years  they  sacrifice  a  child  to  him,  in 
an  acknowledgment  of  their  firm  obedience  to  all  his 
devilish  powers,  and  hellish  commands.  The  priests, 
to  whom  they  apply  themselves  in  matters  of  impor- 
tance and  greatest  distress,  are  like  those  that  attended 
upon  the  Oracle  at  Delphos,  who  by  their  magic 
spells  could  command  a  pro  or  con  from  the  Devil 
when  they  pleased.  These  Indians  ofttimes  raise 
great  tempests  when  they  have  any  weighty  matter 
or  design  in  hand,  and  by  blustering  storms  inquire 
of  their  infernal  god  (the  Devil)  how  matters  shall 
go  with  them  either  in  public  or  private. 

When  any  among  them  depart  this  life,  they  give 
him  no  other  entombment  than  to  set  him  upright 
upon  his  breech  in  a  hole  dug  in  the  earth  some  five 
foot  long,  and  three  foot  deep,  covered  over  with  the 
bark  of  trees  archwise,  with  his  face  due  west,  only 
leaving  a  hole  half  a  foot  square  open.  They  dress 
him  in  the  same  equipage  and  gallantry  that  he  used 
to  be  trimmed  in  when  he  was  alive,  and  so  bury 
him  (if  a  soldier)  with  his  bows,  arrows,  and  target, 
together  with  all  the  rest  of  his  implements  and  weap- 
ons of  war,  with  a  kettle  of  broth,  and  corn  standing 
before  him,  lest  he  should  meet  with  bad  quarters  in 
his  way.  His  kindred  and  relations  follow  him  to 
the  grave,  sheathed  in  bear-skins  for  close  mourning, 
with  the  tail  droiling  on  the  ground,  in  imitation  oi 
our  English  solemners,  that  think  there's  nothing  like 
a  tail  a  degree  in  length,  to  follow  the  dead  corpse  to 
the  grave  with. 


140  GEORGE   ALSOP. 


To  my  Father  at  his  House. 


Sir  :  —  After  my  obedience  (at  so  great  and  vast 
a  distance)  has  humbly  saluted  you  and  my  good 
mother,  with  the  cordialest  of  my  prayers,  wishes, 
and  desires  to  wait  upon  you,  with  the  very  best  of 
their  effectual  devotion,  wishing  from  the  very  centre 
of  my  soul  your  flourishing  and  well-being  here  upon 
earth,  and  your  glorious  and  everlasting  happiness  in 
the  world  to  come. 

These  lines  (my  dear  parents)  come  from  that  son 
which  by  an  irregular  fate  was  removed  from  his 
native  home,  and  after  a  five  months  dangerous  pas^- 
sage,  was  landed  on  the  remote  continent  of  America, 
in  the  province  of  Mary -Land,  where  now  by  provi- 
dence I  reside.  To  give  you  the  particulars  of  the 
several  accidents  that  happened  in  our  voyage  by  sea, 
it  would  swell  a  journal  of  some  sheets,  and  there- 
fore too  large  and  tedious  for  a  letter  :  I  think  it 
therefore  necessary  to  bind  up  the  relation  in  octavo, 
and  give  it  you  in  short. 

We  had  a  blowing  and  dangerous  passage  of  it, 
and  for  some  days  after  I  arrived  I  was  an  absolute 
Copernicus,  it  being  one  main  point  of  my  moral 
creed  to  believe  the  world  had  a  pair  of  long  legs,  and 
walked  with  the  burthen  of  the  creation  upon  her  back. 
For  to  tell  you  the  very  truth  of  it,  for  some  days  upon 
land,  after  so  long  and  tossing  a  passage,  I  was  so  giddy 
that  1  could  hardly  tread  an  even  step :  so  that  all 
things  both  above  and  below  (that  was  in  view) 
appeared  to  me  like  the  Kentish  Britains  to  William 
the  Conqueror,  in  a  moving  posture. 

These  few  number  of  weeks  since  my  arrival,  has 


LETTERS,  141 

given  me  but  little  experience  to  write  anything  large 
of  the  country  ;  only  thus  much  I  can  say,  and  that 
not  from  any  imaginary  conjectures,  but  from  an  oc- 
ular observation,  that  this  country  of  Mary-Land 
abounds  in  a  flourishing  variety  of  delightful  woods, 
pleasant  groves,  lovely  springs,  together  with  spacious 
navigable  rivers  and  creeks,  it  being  a  most  healthful 
and  pleasant  situation,  so  far  as  my  knowledge  has  yet 
had  any  view  in  it. 

Herds  of  deer  are  as  numerous  in  this  Province  of 
Mary-Land,  as  cuckolds  can  be  in  London,  only  their 
horns  are  not  so  well  dressed  and  tipped  with  silver  as 
theirs  are. 

Here  if  the  devil  had  such  a  vagary  in  his  head  as 
he  once  had  among  the  Gadareans,  he  might  drown 
a  thousand  head  of  hogs  and  they'd  ne're  be  missed, 
for  the  very  woods  of  this  Province  swams  with  them. 

The  Christian  inhabitant  of  this  Province,  as  to 
the  general,  lives  wonderfully  well  and  contented  :  the 
government  of  this  Province  is  by  the  loyalness  of 
the  people,  and  loving  demeanor  of  the  Proprietor 
and  Governor  of  the  same,  kept  in  a  continued  peace 
and  unity. 

The  servant  of  this  Province,  which  are  stigmatized 
for  slaves  by  the  clappermouth  jaws  of  the  vulgar  in 
England,  live  more  like  freemen  than  the  most  me- 
chanic apprentices  in  London,  wanting  for  nothing 
that  is  convenient  and  necessary,  and  according  to  their 
several  capacities,  are  extraordinary  well  used  and 
respected.  So  leaving  things  here  as  I  found  them, 
and  lest  I  should  commit  sacrilege  upon  your  more 
serious  meditations,  with  the  tautologies  of  a  long- 
winded  letter,  Pie  subscribe  with  a  heavenly  ejacula- 


142  GEORGE   ALSOP. 

tion  to  the  God  of  mercy  to  preserve  you  now  and 
for  evermore,  Amen. 

Your  obedient  son, 

G.  A. 

From  Mary-Land,  Jan.  17,  Anno. 


To   My   Much  Honored  Friend  Mr.    M.   F. 

Sir  :  —  You  writ  to  me  when  I  was  at  Gravesend. 
(but  I  had  no  conveniency  to  send  you  an  answer 
till  now)  enjoining  me,  if  possible,  to  give  you  a  just 
information  by  my  diligent  observance,  what  thing 
were  best  and  most  profitable  to  send  into  this  country 
for  a  commodious  trafic. 

Sir,  the  enclosed  will  demonstrate  unto  you  both 
particularly  and  at  large,  to  the  full  satisfaction  of  your 
desire,  it  being  an  invoice  drawn  as  exact  to  the  busi- 
ness you  employed  me  upon,  as  my  weak  capacity 
could  extend  to. 

Sir,  if  you  send  any  adventure  to  this  Province,  let 
me  beg  to  give  you  this  advice  in  it  ;  that  the  factor 
whom  you  employ  be  a  man  of  brain,  otherwise  the 
planter  will  go  near  to  make  a  skimming-dish  of  his 
skull  :  I  know  your  genius  can  interpret  my  mean- 
ing. The  people  of  this  place  (whether  the  saltness 
of  the  ocean  gave  them  any  alteration  when  they  went 
over  first,  or  their  continual  dwelling  under  the  remote 
clime  where  they  now  inhabit,  I  know  not)  are  a 
more  acute  people  in  general,  in  matters  of  trade  and 
commerce,  than  in  any  other  place  of  the  world,  ai  d 
by  their  crafty  and  sure  bargaining,  do  often  over- 
reach the  raw  and  unexperienced  merchant.      To  be 


LETTERS.  143 

short,  he  that  undertakes  merchant's  employment  for 
Mary-Land,  must  have  more  of  knave  in  him  than 
fool  :  he  must  not  be  a  windling  piece  of  formality, 
that  will  lose  his  employer's  goods  for  conscience 
sake  ;  nor  a  flashy  piece  of  prodigality,  that  will  give 
his  merchants  fine  hollands,  laces,  and  silks,  to  pur- 
chase the  benevolence  of  a  female  :  but  he  must  be  a 
man  of  solid  confidence,  carrying  always  in  his  looks 
the  effigies  of  an  execution  upon  command,  if  he 
supposes  a  baffle  or  denial  of  payment,  where  a  debt 
for  his  employer  is  legally  due. 

Sir,  I  had  like  almost  to  forgot  to  tell  you  in  what 
part  of  the  world  I  am  :  I  dwell  by  providence  ser- 
vant to  Mr.  Thomas  Stocket,  in  the  County  of  Balti- 
more, within  the  Province  of  Mary-Land,  under  the 
Government  of  the  Lord  Baltimore,  being  a  country 
abounding  with  the  variety  and  diversity  of  all  that  is 
or  may  be  rare.  But  lest  I  should  tantalize  you  with 
a  relation  of  that  which  is  very  unlikely  of  your  en- 
joying, by  reason  of  that  strong  antipathy  you  have 
ever  had  'gainst  travel,  as  to  your  own  particular  : 
Pie  only  tell  you,  that  Mary-Land  is  seated  within 
the  large  extending  arms  of  America,  between  the 
degrees  of  36  and  38,  being  in  longitude  from  Eng- 
land eleven  hundred  and  odd  leagues. 

Vale. 

G.  A. 

From  Mary-Land,  Jan.  17,  Anno. 


144  GEORGE    ALSOP. 


To   My  Cousin   Mrs.    Ellinor  Evins. 


E're  I  forget  the  zenith  of  your  love, 

Let  me  be  banished  from  the  thrones  above ; 

Light  let  me  never  see,  when  I  grow  rude, 

Thtomb  your  love  in  base  ingratitude  : 

Nor  may  I  prosper,  but  the  state 

Of  gaping  Tantalus  be  my  fate  5 

.Rather  than  I  should  thus  preposterous  grow, 

.Earth  would  condemn  me  to  her  vaults  below. 

Virtuous  and  noble,  could  my  genius  raise 

/mmortal  anthems  to  your  vestal  praise, 

iVbne  should  be  more  laborious  than  I, 

.Saint-like  to  canonize  you  to  the  sky. 


The  antimonial  cup  (dear  cousin)  you  sent  me,  I 
had  ;  and  as  soon  as  I  received  it,  I  went  to  work 
with  the  infirmities  and  diseases  of  my  body.  At  the 
first  draught,  it  made  such  havoc  among  the  several 
humors  that  had  stolen  into  my  body,  that  like  a  con- 
jurer in  a  room  among  a  company  of  little  devils,  they 
no  sooner  hear  him  begin  to  speak  high  words,  but 
away  they  pack,  and  happy  is  he  that  can  get  out 
first,  some  up  the  chimney,  and  the  rest  down  stairs, 
till  they  are  all  dispersed.  So  those  malignant  humors 
of  my  body,  feeling  the  operative  power,  and  medici- 
nal virtue  of  this  cup,  were  so  amazed  at  their  sudden 
surprisal,  (being  always  before  battered  only  by  the 
weak  as  a  alts  of  some  few  empyrics)  they  stood  not 
long  to  dispute,  but  with  joint  consent  made  their 
retreat,    .    .    . 

Cousin,  for  this  great  kindness  of  yours,  in  send- 
ing me  this  medicinal  virtue,  I  return  you  my  thanks  : 
it  came  in  a  very  good  time,  when  I  was  dangerously 


LETTERS.  145 

sick,  and  by  the  assistance  of  God,  it  hath  perfectly 
recovered  me. 

I  have  sent  you  here  a  few  furs,  they  were  all  I  could 
get  at  present,  I  humbly  beg  your  acceptance  of  them, 
as  a  pledge  of  my  love  and  thankfulness  unto  you  ; 
I  subscribe, 

Your  loving  cousin, 

G.  A. 

From  Mary-Land,  Dec.  9,  Anno. 


146  BACON'S    REBELLION. 


NARRATIVES    DEALING    WITH    BACON'S 
REBELLION. 

No  event  in  the  Southern  Colonies,  before  the 
Revolution,  stimulated  greater  literary  activity,  or 
was  more  characteristic  of  the  independent  temper 
bred  in  Englishmen  by  their  new  surroundings  than 
the  popular  uprising  in  1676  known  as  "  Bacon's 
Rebellion,"  just  one  hundred  years  before  not  dis- 
similar causes  brought  about  the  general  Colonial 
Declaration  of  Independence.  During  the  English 
Protectorate,  Governor  Berkeley,  who  had  taken 
the  Royal  side,  had  been  forced  to  resign  his  author- 
ity in  1651.  He  was  reinstated  at  the  Restoration, 
in  1660,  and  surpassed  his  royal  master  in  persecution, 
especially  of  the  Baptists  and  Quakers,  and  in  taxation, 
from  which  the  large  personal  estates  were  exempted. 
He  abolished  also  the  biennial  election  of  Burgesses. 
This  led  to  popular  discontent,  intensified  by  the  con- 
duct of  the  king,  who  treated  Virginia  as  his  personal 
property,  making  large  grants  to  Court  favorites,  and 
countenancing  laws  that  produced  great  uncertainty 
and  distress  among  the  planters.  The  Assembly, 
assuming  to  be  a  perpetual  body,  sought  to  make 
itself  independent  of  Colonial  legislation  by  a  per- 
manent impost  on  imported  tobacco.  Vain  protests 
were  made  to  the  king  against  the  invasion  of  popular 
liberties,  and  legislation,  which  reduced  the  price  of 
tobacco  to  Colonial  currency  and  burdened  trade  by 
Parliamentary  restraints.  This,  added  to  the  corrup- 
tion, tyranny,  and  inefficiency  of  Governor  Berkeley, 


BACON'S    REBELLION.  147 

who  seemed  unable  or  unwilling  to  accord  the  Colon- 
ists adequate  protection  from  Indian  massacres  and 
raids,  produced  a  growing  discontent  that  needed 
only  the  presence  of  a  sturdy  leader  to  burst  into 
overt  rebellion.  Such  a  leader  the  Colonists  found 
in  Nathaniel  Bacon,  a  young  man  of  wealth  and  the 
best  English  training,  who  in  defiance  of  the  Governor 
took  the  field  against  the  Indians  and  was  enthusiasti- 
cally supported  by  the  mass  of  the  people  and  the  smaller 
planters.  This  was  in  April,  1676.  The  same 
month  Charles  II,  in  response  to  Colonial  protest 
ordered  the  preparation  of  a  liberal  charter.  In 
May,  Berkeley  proclaimed  Bacon  a  traitor.  In 
June,  however,  the  assembly  enacted  the  so-called 
'«  Bacon  Laws"  a  series  of  Reform  measures,  and 
that  leader  was  appointed  Commander  in  Chief 
against  the  Indians.  In  July  the  Reform  party  seem 
to  have  achieved  a  legislative  triumph,  and  in  August 
a  popular  convention  met  at  Williamsburg,  voted  to 
sustain  Bacon  against  the  Indians  and  to  prevent,  if 
possible,  a  civil  war  ;  but  the  sudden  sickness  and 
death  of  Bacon  in  October  deprived  the  popular  party 
of  its  only  efficient  leader,  and  Berkeley  reestablished 
his  tyranny  by  such  general  hurried  and  indecent 
executions  that  the  king  is  said  to  have  exclaimed 
"The  old  fool  has  taken  more  lives  in  his  naked 
country  than  I  for  my  father's  murder."  The 
character  of  his  administration  till  his  enforced  recall 
in  1676  may  be  gathered  from  his  often  quoted  say- 
ing "Thank  God  there  are  no  free  schools  nor 
printing  presses,  and  I  hope  there  will  be  none  for 
an  hundred  years,  for  learning  has  brought  disobedi- 
ence and  heresy  and  sects  into  the  world  and  print- 


148  BACON'S    REBELLION. 

ing  has  divulged  these  and  other  libels."  The 
rebellion  had  a  romantic  character  that  seemed  to 
beckon  the  historian  as  it  has  the  romancer.  There 
is  an  anonymous  "  History  of  Bacon's  and  Ingrams' 
Rebellion,"  known  as  "The  Burwell  Papers," 
printed  by  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  in 
1  814  and  again  more  correctly  in  1866.  Though  in- 
complete it  is  a  thoroughly  readable  narrative,  a  little 
pedantic  and  affected  and  pronounced  in  its  sym- 
pathy with  the  aristocratic  party.  The  writer  has 
been  conjecturally  identified  with  a  planter,  Cotton 
of  Acquia  Creek,  possibly  the  author  of  the  concise 
account  that  heads  our  selections.  Another  shorter 
account  written  in  1705  by  a  certain  T.  M.,  prob- 
ably Thomas  Matthews,  a  Burgess  of  Stafford 
County,  and  a  man  of  genial  credulity,  has  furnished 
us  interesting  material.  But  neither  of  these  writers 
approaches,  in  literary  power,  that  unknown  "Ba- 
con's man  "  who  wrote  upon  his  master  a  really  noble 
epitaph.  All  these  documents  may  be  found  in  Vol. 
I.  of  **  Force's  Tracts." 


A   SUCCINCT   ACCOUNT. 

[From  "Strange  News  from  Virginia,"  London, 
1677.      Possibly  by  Cotton.] 

There  is  no  nation  this  day  under  the  copes  of 
Heaven  can  so  experimentally  speak  the  sad  effects  of 
men  of  great  parts  being  reduced  to  necessity,  as 
England  ;  but  not  to  rake  up  the  notorious  misde- 
meanors of  the  dead,  I  shall  endeavor  to  prevent  the 


BACONS   REBELLION.  149 

sad  effects  of  so  deplorable  a  cause,  by  giving  you  an 
account  of  the  remarkable  life  and  death  of  this 
Gentleman  of  whom  I  am  about  to  discourse.  And 
because  when  a  man  has  once  engaged  himself  in  an 
ill  action,  all  men  are  ready  to  heap  an  innumerable 
aspersions  upon  him,  of  which  he  is  no  ways  guilty, 
I  shall  be  so  just  in  the  history  of  his  life  as  not  to 
rob  him  of  those  commendations  which  his  birth  and 
acquisitions  claim  as  due,  and  so  kind  both  to  loyalty 
and  the  wholsome  constituted  laws  of  our  kingdom, 
as  not  to  smother  anything  which  would  render  him 
to  blame. 

This  Gentleman  who  has  of  late  beckoned  the 
attention  of  all  men  of  understanding  who  are  any 
ways  desirous  of  novelty,  [or]  care  what  becomes 
of  any  part  of  the  world  besides  that  themselves  live 
in,  had  the  honor  to  be  descended  of  an  ancient  and 
honorable  family,  his  name  Nathaniel  Bacon,  to 
which  to  the  long  known  title  of  Gentleman,  by  his 
long  study  [at]  the  Inns  of  Court  he  has  since  added 
that  of  Esquire.  He  was  the  son  of  Mr.  Thomas 
Bacon  of  an  ancient  seat  known  by  the  denomination 
of  Freestone-Hall  in  the  County  of  Suffolk,  a  gentle- 
man of  known  loyalty  and  ability.  His  father  as  he 
was  able  so  he  was  willing  to  allow  this  his  son  a 
very  gentile  competency  to  subsist  upon,  but  he  as  it 
proved  having  a  soul  too  large  for  that  allowance, 
could  not  contain  himself  within  bounds  ;  which  his 
careful  father  perceiving,  and  also  that  he  had  a  mind 
to  travel  (having  seen  divers  parts  of  the  world  before) 
consented  to  his  inclination  of  going  to  Virginia,  and 
accomodated  him  with  a  stock  for  that  purpose, 
to  the  value  of    1800/    Starling,   as  I  am    credibly 


150  BACONS    REBELLION. 

informed  by  a  merchant  of  very  good  wealth,  who 
is  now  in  this  city,  and  had  the  fortune  to  carry  him 
thither. 

He  began  his  voyage  thitherwards  about  three  years 
since,  and  lived  for  about  a  year's  space  in  that  conti- 
nent in  very  good  repute,  his  extraordinary  parts  like 
a  letter  of  recommendation  rendering  him  acceptable 
in  all  men's  company,  whilst  his  considerable  con- 
cerns in  that  place  were  able  to  bear  him  out  in  the 
best  of.  society.  These  accomplishments  of  mind 
and  fortune,  rendred  him  so  remarkable,  that  the 
worthy  Governor  of  that  Continent  thought  it  requi- 
site to  take  him  into  his  Privy  Council. 

That  Plantation  which  he  chose  to  settle  in  is 
generally  known  by  the  name  of  Curies,  situate  in 
the  upper  part  of  James  River  and  the  time  of  his 
Revolt  was  not  till  the  beginning  of  March,  167^. 
At  which  time  the  Susquo-hannan  Indians  (a  known 
enemy  to  that  country)  having  made  an  insurrection, 
and  killed  divers  of  the  English,  amongst  whom  it  was 
his  fortune  to  have  a  servant  slain  ;  in  revenge  of 
whose  death,  and  other  damage (s)  he  received  from 
those  turbulent  Susquo-hanians, without  the  Governor's 
consent  he  furiously  took  up  arms  against  them  and 
was  so  fortunate  as  to  put  them  to  flight,  but  not  con- 
tent therewith  ;  the  aforesaid  Governor  hearing  of  his 
eager  pursuit  after  the  vanquished  Indians,  sent  out  a 
select  company  of  soldiers  to  command  him  to  desist  ; 
but  he  instead  of  listening  thereunto,  persisted  in  his 
revenge,  and  sent  to  the  Governor  to  entreat  his  com- 
mission, that  he  might  more  cheerfully  prosecute  his 
design  ;  which  being  denied  him  by  the  messenger 
he  sent   for   that    purpose,  he   notwithstanding   con- 


BACON'S    REBELLION.  151 

tinued  to  make  head  with  his  own  servants,  and  other 
English  then  resident  in  Curies  against  them.  In  this 
interim  the  people  of  Henrica  had  returned  him  Bur- 
gess of  their  County  ;  and  he  in  order  thereunto 
took  his  own  sloop  and  came  down  towards  James 
Town,  conducted  by  thirty  odd  soldiers,  with  part 
of  which  he  came  ashore  to  Mr.  Laurence's  house, 
to  understand  whether  he  might  come  in  with  safety 
or  not,  but  being  discovered  by  one  Parson  Clough, 
and  also  it  being  perceived  that  he  had  lined  the 
bushes  of  the  said  town  with  soldiers,  the  Governor 
thereupon  ordered  an  alarm  to  be  beaten  through  the 
whole  town,  which  took  so  hot,  that  Bacon  thinking 
himself  not  so  secure  whilst  he  remained  there  within 
reach  of  their  fort,  immediately  commanded  his  men 
aboard,  and  towed  his  sloop  up  the  river  ;  which  the 
Governor  perceiving,  ordered  the  ships  which  lay  at 
Sandy-point  to  pursue  and  take  him  ;  and  they  by 
the  industry  of  their  commanders  succeeded  so  well 
in  the  attempt,  that  they  presently  stopt  his  passage  ; 
so  that  Mr.  Bacon  finding  himself  pursued  both  before 
and  behind,  after  some  capitulations,  quietly  surren- 
dred  himself  prisoner  to  the  Governor's  Commission- 
ers, to  the  great  satisfaction  of  all  his  friends  ;  which 
action  of  his  was  so  obliging  to  the  Governor,  that 
he  granted  him  his  liberty  immediately  upon  parole, 
without  confining  him  either  to  prison  or  chamber, 
and  the  next  day,  after  some  private  discourse  passed 
betwixt  the  Governor,  the  Privy  Council,  and  him- 
self, he  was  amply  restored  to  all  his  former  honors 
and  dignities,  and  a  commission  partly  promised  him 
to  be  general  against  the  Indian  army  ;  but  upon  fur- 
ther enquiry  into  his  affairs  it  was  not   thought  fit  to 


152  BACONS    REBELLION. 

be  granted  him  ;  whereat  his  ambitious  mind  seemed 
mightily  to  be  displeased  ;  insomuch  that  he  gave 
out,  that  it  was  his  intention  to  sell  his  whole  con- 
cerns in  Virginia,  and  to  go  with  his  whole  family 
to  live  either  in  Merry-land  or  the  South,  because 
he  would  avoid  (as  he  said)  the  scandal  of  being 
accounted  a  factious  person  there.  But  this  resolu- 
tion it  seems  was  but  a  pretence,  for  afterwards  he 
headed  the  same  runnagado  English  that  he  formerly 
found  ready  to  undertake  and  go  sharers  with  him  in 
any  of  his  rebellions,  and  adding  to  them  the  assist- 
ance of  his  own  slaves  and  servants,  headed  them  so 
far  till  they  toucht  at  the  Occonegies  town,  where 
he  was  treated  very  civilly,  and  by  the  inhabitants 
informed  where  some  of  the  Susquehanno's  were 
inforted,  whom  presently  he  assails,  and  after  he  had 
vanquished  them,  slew  about  seventy  of  them  in  their 
fort.  But  as  he  returned  back  to  the  Occoneges,  he 
found  they  had  fortified  themselves  with  divers  more 
Indians  than  they  had  at  his  first  arrival  ;  wherefore 
he  desired  hostages  of  them  for  their  good  behavior, 
whilst  he  and  his  followers  lay  within  command  of 
their  fort.  But  those  treacherous  Indians  grown  con- 
fident by  reason  of  their  late  recruit,  returned  him 
this  answer,  That  their  guns  were  the  only  hostages 
he  was  like  to  have  of  them,  and  if  he  would  have 
them  he  must  fetch  them.  Which  was  no  sooner 
spoke,  but  the  Indians  sallied  out  of  the  fort  and  shot 
one  of  his  sentinels,  whereupon  he  charged  them  so 
fiercely,  that  the  fight  continued  not  only  all  that  day, 
but  the  next  also,  till  the  approach  of  the  evening, 
at  which  time  finding  his  men  grow  faint  for  want 
of  provision,  he  laid  hold  of  the  opportunity,  being 


BACON'S    REBELLION.  I  53 

befriended  by  a  gloomy  night,  and  so  made  an  hon- 
orable retreat  homewards.    .    .    . 

This  being  past,  Mr.  Bacon,  about  the  25th  of 
June  last,  dissatisfied  that  he  could  not  have  a  com- 
mission granted  him  to  go  against  the  Indians,  in  the 
night  time  departed  the  town  unknown  to  any  body, 
and  about  a  week  after  got  together  between  four  and 
five  hundred  men  of  New-Kent  County,  with  whom 
he  marched  to  James-Town,  and  drew  up  in  order  be- 
fore the  House  of  State;  and  there  peremptorily 
demanded  of  the  Governor,  Council,  and  Burgesses 
(there  then  collected)  a  commission  to  go  against 
the  Indians,  which  if  they  should  refuse  to  grant  him, 
he  told  them  that  neither  he  nor  ne're  a  man  in  his 
company  would  depart  from  their  doors  until  he  had 
obtained  his  request  ;  whereupon  to  prevent  farther 
danger  in  so  great  an  exigence,  the  Council  and  Bur- 
gesses by  much  intreaty  obtained  him  a  commission 
signed  by  the  Governor,  an  act  for  one  thousand 
men  to  be  listed  under  his  command  to  go  against 
the  Indians,  to  whom  the  same  pay  was  to  be  granted 
as  was  allowed  to  them  who  went  against  the  fort. 
But  Bacon  was  not  satisfied  with  this,  but  afterwards 
earnestly  importuned,  and  at  length  obtained  of  the 
House,  to  pass  an  act  of  indemnity  to  all  persons 
who  had  sided  with  him,  and  also  letters  of  recom- 
mendations from  the  Governor  to  his  Majesty  in  his 
behalf;  and  moreover  caused  Colonel  Claybourn  and 
his  son  Captain  Claybourn,  Lieutenant  Colonel  West, 
and  Lieutenant  Colonel  Hill,  and  many  others,  to  be 
degraded  for  ever  bearing  any  office,  whether  it  were 
military  or  civil. 

Having    obtained    these    large    civilities    from   the 


154  BACON'S    REBELLION. 

Governor,  &c.  one  would  have  thought  that  if  the 
principles  of  honesty  would  not  have  obliged  him  to 
peace  and  loyalty,  those  of  gratitude  should.  But, 
alas,  when  men  have  been  once  flusht  or  entered 
with  vice,  how  hard  is  it  for  them  to  leave  it,  espe- 
cially it  tends  towards  ambition  or  greatness,  which 
is  the  general  lust  of  a  large  soul,  and  the  common 
error  of  vast  parts,  which  fix  their  eyes  so  upon  the 
lure  of  greatness,  that  they  have  no  time  left  them  to 
consider  by  what  indirect  and  unlawful  means  they 
must  (if  ever)  attain  it. 

This  certainly  was  Mr.  Bacon's  Crime,  who  after 
he  had  once  lanched  into  rebellion,  nay,  and  upon 
submission  had  been  pardoned  for  it,  and  also. re- 
stored, as  if  he  had  committed  no  such  heinous 
offence,  to  his  former  honor  and  dignities  (which 
were  considerable  enough  to  content  any  reasonable 
mind)  yet  for  all  this  he  could  not  forbear  wading 
into  his  former  misdemeanors,  and  continued  his 
opposition  against  that  prudent  and  established  gov- 
ernment, ordered  by  his  Majesty  of  Great  Britain  to 
be  duly  observed  in  that  continent. 

In  fine,  he  continued  (I  cannot  say  properly  in 
the  fields,  but)  in  the  woods  with  a  considerable  army 
all  last  summer,  and  maintained  several  brushes  with 
the  Governor's  party,  sometimes  routing  them,  and 
burning  all  before  him,  to  the  great  damage  of  many  of 
his  Majesty's  loyal  subjects  there  resident;  sometimes 
he  and  his  rebels  were  beaten  by  the  Governor,  &c. 
and  forced  to  run  for  shelter  amongst  the  woods  and 
swamps.  In  which  lamentable  condition  that  un- 
happy continent  has  remained  for  the  space  of  almost 
a  twelve-month,   every  one    therein  that  were  able 


BACON'S    REBELLION.  I  55 

being  forced  to  take  up  arms  for  security  of  their  own 
lives,  and  no  one  reckoning  their  goods,  wives,  or 
children  to  be  their  own,  since  they  were  so  danger- 
ously exposed  to  the  doubtful  accidents  of  an  uncer- 
tain war. 

But  the  indulgent  Heavens,  who  are  alone  able  to 
compute  what  measure  of  punishments  are  adequate 
or  fit  for  the  sins  or  transgressions  of  a  nation,  has  in 
its  great  mercy  thought  fit  to  put  a  stop,  at  least,  if 
not  a  total  period  and  conclusion  to  these  Virginian 
troubles,  by  the  death  of  this  Nat.  Bacon,  the  great 
molester  of  the  quiet  of  that  miserable  nation  ;  so 
that  now  we  who  are  here  in  England,  and  have  any 
relations  or  correspondence  with  any  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  that  continent,  may  by  the  arrival  of  the 
next  ships  from  that  coast  expect  to  hear  that  they 
are  freed  from  all  their  dangers,  quitted  of  all  their 
fears,  and  in  great  hopes  and  expectation  to  live 
quietly  under  their  own  vines,  and  enjoy  the  benefit 
of  their  commendable  labors. 

1  know  it  is  by  some  reported  that  this  Mr.  Bacon 
was  a  very  hard  drinker,  and  that  he  died  by  imbib- 
ing, or  taking  in  too  much  brandy.  But  I  am  in- 
formed by  those  who  are  persons  of  undoubted 
reputation,  and  had  the  happiness  to  see  the  same 
letter  which  gave  his  Majesty  an  account  of  his 
death,  that  there  was  no  such  thing  therein  men- 
tioned :  he  was  certainly  a  person  indued  with  great 
natural  parts,  which  notwithstanding  his  juvenile 
extravagances  he  had  adorned  with  many  elaborate 
acquisitions,  and  by  the  help  of  learning  and  study 
knew  how  to  manage  them  to  a  miracle,  it  being 
the   general  vogue    of  all    that  knew  him,   that    he 


156  BACON'S    REBELLION. 

usually  spoke  as  much  sense  in  as  few  words,  and  de- 
livered that  sense  as  opportunely  as  any  they  ever 
kept  company  withal.  Wherefore  as  I  am  my  self 
a  lover  of  ingenuity,  though  an  abhorrer  of  disturb- 
ance or  rebellion,  I  think  fit  since  Providence  was 
pleaded  to  let  him  die  a  natural  death  in  his  bed,  not 
to  asperse  him  with  saying  he  killed  himself  with 
drinking. 

CAUSES    OF   THE    STRIFE. 

[From  the  "  Burwell  Papers."      First  Published 
by  the   Mass.    Hist.    Soc,  18 14.] 

The  people  chose  Col.  Bacon  their  General,  which 
post  he  accepted.  He  was  a  man  of  quality  and 
merit,  brave,  and  eloquent  ;  became  much  endeared, 
not  so  much  for  what  he  had  yet  done  as  the  cause 
of  their  affections,  as  for  what  they  expected  he 
would  do  to  deserve  their  devotion  ;  while  with  no 
common  zeal  they  sent  up  their  reiterated  prayers,  first 
to  himself,  and  next  to  heaven,  that  he  may  become 
their  guardian  angel,  to  protect  them  from  the  cruel- 
ties of  the  Indians,  against  whom  this  gentleman  had 
a  perfect  antipathy. 

It  seems  that  at  the  first  rise  of  the  war  this  gentle- 
man had  made  some  overtures  unto  the  Governor  for 
a  commission  to  go  and  put  a  stop  to  the  Indians'. 
proceedings.  But  the  Governor  at  present,  either 
not  willing  to  commence  the  quarrel  (on  his  part) 
till  more  suitable  reasons  presented  for  to  urge  his 
more  severe  prosecution  of  the  same,  against  the 
heathen  ;  or  that  he  doubted   Bacon's  temper,  as  he 


BACON'S   REBELLION.  157 

appeared  popularly  inclined  ;  a  constitution  not  con- 
sistent with  the  times  or  the  people's  dispositions, 
being  generally  discontented,  for  want  of  timely  pro- 
visions against  the  Indians,  or  for  annual  impositions 
laid  upon  them  too  great  (as  they  said)  for  them  to 
bear,  and  against  which  they  had  some  considerable 
time  complained,  without  the  least  redress,  —  for 
these  or  some  other  reasons  the  Governor  refused  to 
comply  with  Bacon's  proposals  :  which  he  looking 
upon  as  undervaluing  as  well  to  his  parts  as  a  dis- 
paragement to  his  pretensions,  he  in  some  elated  and 
passionate  expressions  swore,  commission  or  no  com- 
mission, the  next  man  or  woman  he  heard  of  that 
should  be  killed  by  the  Indians,  he  would  go  out 
against  them  though  but  twenty  men  would  adven- 
ture the  service  with  him.  Now  it  so  unhappily  fell 
out  that  the  next  person  that  the  Indians  did  kill  was 
one  of  his  own  family.  Whereupon  having  got  together 
about  seventy  or  ninety  persons,  most  good  house- 
keepers, well  armed,  and  seeing  that  he  could  not 
legally  procure  a  commission  (after  some  strugglings 
with  the  Governor),  some  of  his  best  friends  who 
condemned  his  enterprises,  he  applies  himself.    .    .    . 

This  rash  proceeding  of  Bacon,  if  it  did  not  undo 
himself,  by  his  failing  in  the  enterprise,  might  chance 
to  undo  them  in  the  affections  of  the  people  ;  which, 
to  prevent,  they  thought  it  conducible  to  their  inter- 
est and  establishment  for  to  get  the  Governor  in  the 
mind  to  proclaim  him  a  rebel,  as  knowing  that  once 
being  done,  since  it  could  not  be  done  but  in  and  by 
the  Governor's  name,  it  must  needs  breed  bad  blood 
between  Bacon  and  Sir  William,  not  easily  to  be 
purged  ;  for  though  Sir  William  might  forgive  what 


158  BACON'S    REBELLION. 

Bacon  as  yet  had  acted,  yet  it  might  be  questionable 
whether  Bacon  might  forget  what  Sir  William  had 
done.  However,  according  to  their  desires,  Bacon, 
and  all  his  adherents,  was  proclaimed  a  rebel,  May 
the  29,  and  forces  raised  to  reduce  him  to  his  duty  ; 
with  which  the  Governor  advanced  from  the  Middle 
Plantation  to  find  him  out,  and  if  need  was  to  fight 
him,  if  the  Indians  had  not  knocked  him  and  those 
that  were  with  him  in  the  head,  as  some  were  in 
hope  they  had  done,  and  which  by  some  was  ear- 
nestly desired. 

After  some  days  the  Governor  retracts  his  march 
(a  journey  of  some  thirty  or  forty  miles),  to  meet 
the  Assembly,  now  ready  to  set  down  at  our  metropo- 
lis ;  while  Bacon  in  the  meanwhile  meets  with  the 
Indians,  upon  whom  he  falls  with  abundance  of  reso- 
lution and  gallantry  (as  his  own  party  relates  it)  in 
their  fastness,  killing  a  great  many  and  blowing  up 
their  magazines  of  arms  and  powder  —  to  a  consid- 
erable quantity,  if  we  may  judge  from  himself;  no 
less  than  four  thousand  weight.  This  being  done, 
and  all  his  provisions  spent,  he  returns  home,  and 
while  here  submits  himself  to  be  chosen  burgess  of  the 
county  in  which  he  did  live,  contrary  to  his  qualifica- 
tions, take  him  as  he  was  formerly  one  of  the  Coun- 
cil of  State,  or  as  he  was  now  a  proclaimed  rebel. 
However,  he  applies  himself  to  the  performance  of 
that  trust  reposed  in  him  by  the  people,  if  he  might 
be  admitted  into  the  house.  But  this  not  saying  ac- 
cording to  his  desire,  though  according  to  his  expec- 
tation, and  he  remaining  in  his  sloop  (then  at  anchor 
before  the  town),  in  which  was  about  thirty  gentle- 
men besides  himself,  he  was  there  surprised  and  made 


BACON'S   REBELLION.  1 59 

prisoner  with  the  rest,  some  being  put  into  irons,  in 
which  condition  they  remained  some  time,  till  all 
things  were  fitted  for  the  trial.  Which  being  brought 
to  a  day  of  hearing,  before  the  Governor  and  Council. 
Bacon  was  not  only  acquitted  and  pardoned  all  mis- 
demeanors, but  restored  to  the  Council  table  as  before  ; 
and  not  only,  but  promised  to  have  a  commission 
signed  the  Monday  following  (this  was  Saturday)  as 
General  for  the  Indian  war,  to  the  universal  satisfac- 
tion of  the  people,  who  passionately  desired  the  same  ; 
witnessed  by  the  general  acclamations  of  all  then  in 
town. 

And  here  who  can  do  less  than  wonder  at  the 
mutable  and  impermanent  deportments  of  that  blind 
goddess  Fortune,  who  in  the  morning  leads  men  with 
disgraces,  and,  ere  night,  crowns  him  with  honors  ; 
sometimes  depressing,  and  again  elevating,  as  her 
fickle  humor  is  to  smile  or  frown  —  of  which  this 
gentleman's  fate  was  a  kind  of  epitome  in  the  several 
vicissitudes  and  changes  he  was  subjected  in  a  very 
few  days  ;  for  in  the  morning,  before  his  trial,  he 
was,  in  his  enemies'  hopes  and  his  friends'  fears, 
judged  for  to  receive  the  guerdon  due  to  a  rebel  (and 
such  he  was  proclaimed  to  be),  and,  ere  night, 
crowned  the  darling  of  the  people's  hopes  and  desires, 
as  the  only  man  fit  in  Virginia  to  put  a  stop  to  the 
bloody  resolution  of  the  heathen.  And  yet  again,  as 
a  fuller  manifestation  of  Fortune's  inconstancy,  within 
two  or  three  days,  the  people's  hopes  and  his  desires 
were  both  frustrated  by  the  Governor's  refusing  to 
sign  the  promised  commission  :  at  which,  being  dis- 
gusted, though  he  dissembled  the  same  so  well  as  he 
could,  he  begs  leave  of  the  Governor  to  dispense  with 


160  BACON'S    REBELLION. 

his  services  at  the  Council  table,  to  visit  his  wife,  who, 
as  she  had  informed  him,  was  indisposed  ;  which  re- 
quest the  Governor  (after  some  contest  with  his  own 
thoughts)  granted,  contrary  to  the  advice  of  some 
about  him,  who  suspected  Bacon's  designs,  and  that 
it  was  not  so  much  his  lady's  sickness  as  the  troubles 
of  a  distempered  mind  which  caused  him  to  withdraw 
to  his  own  house,  and  this  was  the  truth,  which  in  a 
few  days  was  manifested,  when  that  he  returned"  to 
town  with  five  hundred  men  in  arms. 

The  Governor  did  not  want  intelligence  of  Bacon's 
designs,  and  therefore  sent  out  his  summons  for  York 
train-bands  to  reinforce  his  guards  then  at  town.  But 
the  time  was  so  short,  not  above  twelve  hours'  warn- 
ing, and  those  that  appeared  at  the  rendezvous  made 
such  a  slender  number,  that  under  four  ensigns  there 
was  not  mustered  above  one  hundred  soldiers,  and 
not  one  half  of  them  sure  neither  and  all  so  sluggish 
in  their  march,  that  before  they  could  reach  town, 
by  a  great  deal,  Bacon  had  entered  the  same,  and 
by  force  obtained  a  commission,  calculated  to  the 
height  of  his  own  desires.  With  which  commis- 
sion, being  invested  (such  as  it  was),  he  makes 
ready  his  provisions,  fills  up  his  companies  to  the 
designed  number  (five  hundred  in  all)  and  so  applies 
himself  to  those  services  the  country  expected  from 
him.  And  first,  for  the  securing  the  same  against 
the  excursions  of  the  Indians  in  his  absence  (and 
such  might  be  expected),  he  commissioned  sev- 
eral persons  (such  as  he  could  confide  in)  in  every 
respective  county,  with  select  companies  of  well- 
armed  men,  to  ravage  the  forests,  thickets,  swamps, 
and   all   such   suspected  places   where   Indians   might 


BACON'S   REBELLION.  l6l 

have  any  shelter  for  the  doing  of  mischief.  Which 
proceedings  of  his  put  so  much  courage  into  the 
planters,  that  they  begun  to  apply  themselves  to  their 
accustomed  employments  in  their  plantations  :  which 
till  now  they  durst  not  do,  for  fear  of  being  knocked 
in  the  head,  as,  God  knows,  too  many  were,  before 
these  orders  were  observed. 

While  the  General  (for  so  was  Bacon  now  de- 
nominated by  virtue  of  his  commission)  was  sedu- 
lous in  these  affairs,  and  fitting  his  provisions  about 
the  head  of  York  River,  in  order  to  his  advance 
against  the  Indians,  the  Governor  was  steering  quite 
different  courses.  He  was  once  more  persuaded 
(but  for  what  reasons  not  visible)  to  proclaim  Bacon 
a  rebel  again,  and  now,  since  his  absence  afforded  an 
advantage  to  raise  the  country  upon  him  so  soon  as 
he  should  return  tired  and  exhausted  by  his  toil  and 
labor  in  the  Indian  war.  For  the  putting  this  counsel 
in  execution,  the  Governor  steps  over  in  Gloucester 
County  (a  place  the  best  replenished  for  men,  arms, 
and  affection  of  any  county  in  Virginia),  all  which 
the  Governor  summons  to  give  him  a  meeting  at  a 
place  and  day  assigned,  where  being  met  according 
to  summons  the  Governor's  proposals  was  so  much 
disrelished  by  the  whole  convention  that  they  all  dis- 
banded to  their  own  abodes,  after  their  promise  passed 
to  stand  by  and  assist  the  Governor  against  all  those 
who  should  go  about  to  wrong  his  person  or  debase 
his  authority  ;  unto  which  promise  they  annexed  or 
subjoined  several  reasons  why  they  thought  it  not 
convenient  at  present,  convenient  to  declare  them- 
selves against  Bacon,  as  he  was  now  advancing  against 
the  common  enemy,  who  had  in  a  most  barbarous 


1 62  BACON'S    REBELLION. 

manner  murdered  some  hundreds  of  their  dear  breth- 
ren and  countrymen,  and  would,  if  not  prevented  by 
God  and  the  endeavors  of  good  men,  do  their  utmost 
for  to  cut  off  the  whole  Colony. 

Therefore  did  they  think  that  it  would  be  a  thing 
inconsistent  with  right  reason  if  that  they,  in  this  des- 
perate conjuncture  of  time,  should  go  and  engage 
themselves  one  against  another  ;  from  the  result  of 
which  proceedings,  nothing  could  be  expected  but 
ruin  and  destruction  unto  both,  to  the  one  and  other 
party,  since  that  it  might  reasonably  be  conceived, 
that  while  they  should  be  exposing  their  breasts 
against  one  another's  weapons,  the  barbarous  and 
common  enemy  (who  would  make  his  advantages  by 
our  disadvantages)  should  be  upon  their  backs  to 
knock  out  their  brains.  But  if  it  should  so  happen 
(as  they  did  hope  would  never  happen)  that  the 
General,  after  the  Indian  war  was  finished,  should 
attempt  any  thing  against  his  Honor's  person  or  gov- 
ernment, that  they  would  rise  up  in  arms,  with  a 
joint  consent,  for  the  preservation  of  both. 

Since  the  Governor  could  obtain  no  more,  he  was 
at  present  to  rest  himself  contented  with  this,  while 
those  who  had  advised  him  to  these  undertakings,  was 
not  a  little  dissatisfied  to  find  the  event  not  answer 
their  expectations.  But  he  at  present,  seeing  there 
was  no  more  to  be  done,  since  he  wanted  a  power  to 
have  that  done,  which  was  esteemed  the  main  of  the 
affairs  now  in  hand  to  be  done,  namely,  the  gaining 
of  the  Gloucester  men  to  do  what  he  would  have 
done,  he  thought  it  best  to  do  what  he  had  a  power 
to  do,  and  that  was  once  more  to  proclaim  Bacon  a 
traitor,  which  was  performed  in  all  public  places  of 


BACON'S    REBELLION.  163 

meetings  in  these  parts.  The  noise  of  which  procla- 
mation, after  that  it  had  passed  the  admiration  of  all 
that  were  not  acquainted  with  the  reasons  that  moved 
his  Honor  to  do  what  he  had  now  done,  soon  reached 
the  General's  ears,  not  yet  stopped  up  from  listening 
to  apparent  dangers. 

This  strange  and  unexpected  news  put  him,  and 
some  with  him  shrewdly  to  their  trumps,  believing 
that  a  few  such  deals  or  shuffles  (call  them  which 
you  please)  might  quickly  wring  the  cards  and  game 
too  out  his  hand.  He  perceived  that  he  was  fallen 
(like  the  corn  between  the  stones),  so  that  if  he  did 
not  look  the  better  about  him,  he  might  chance  to  be 
ground  to  powder.  He  knew  that  to  have  a  certain 
enemy  in  his  front,  and  more  than  uncertain  friends 
in  his  rear,  portended  no  great  security  from  a  violent 
death,  and  that  there  could  be  no  great  difference  be- 
tween his  being  wounded  to  death  in  his  breast  with 
bows  and  arrows,  or  in  the  back  with  guns  and  musket 
bullets.  He  did  see  that  there  was  an  absolute  neces- 
sity of  destroying  the  Indians,  for  the  preservation  of 
the  English,  and  that  there  was  some  care  to  be  taken 
for  his  own  and  soldiers'  safety,  otherwise  that  work 
must  be  ill  done  where  the  laborers  are  made  cripples, 
and  compelled  instead  of  a  sword  to  betake  themselves 
to  a  crutch. 

It  vexed  him  to  the  heart  (as  he  was  heard  to  say) 
for  to  think  that  while  he  was  hunting  wolves,  tigers, 
and  foxes,  which  daily  destroyed  our  harmless  sheep 
and  lambs,  that  he  and  those  with  him  should  be  pur- 
sued, with  a  full  cry,  as  a  more  savage  or  a  no  less 
ravenous  beast.  But  to  put  all  out  of  doubt,  and 
himself  in   some  degree  of  safety,  since  he  could  not 


164  BACONS    REBELLION. 

tell  but  that  some  whom  he  left  behind  might  not 
more  desire  his  death  than  to  hear  that  by  him  the 
Indians  were  destroyed,  he  forthwith  (after  a  short 
consultation  held  with  some  of  his  soldiers)  counter- 
marches his  army,  and  in  a  trice  came  up  with  them 
at  the  Middle  Plantation,  a  place  situated  in  the  very 
heart  of  the  country. 


BACON'S   STRATAGEM. 
[From  the  Same.] 

Bacon  soon  perceived  what  easy  work  he  was 
likely  to  have  in  this  service,  and  so  begun  to  set  as 
small  an  esteem  upon  these  men's  courages  as  they 
did  upon  their  own  credits.  He  saw,  by  the  pro- 
logue, what  sport  might  be  expected  in  the  play,  and 
so  began  to  dispose  of  his  affairs  accordingly.  Yet 
not  knowing  but  that  the  paucity  of  his  numbers 
being  once  known  to  those  in  town,  it  might  raise 
their  hearts  to  a  degree  of  courage,  having  so  much 
the  odds,  and  that  many  times  number  prevails 
against  resolution,  he  thought  it  not  amiss,  since  the 
Lion's  strength  was  too  weak,  to  strengthen  the  same 
with  the  Fox's  brains;  and  how  this  was  to  be 
affected  you  shall  hear  : 

For  immediately  he  dispatcheth  two  or  three  parties 
of  horse  and  about  so  many  in  each  party,  for  more 
he  could  not  spare,  to  bring  into  the  camp  some  of 
the  prime  gentlewomen,  whose  husbands  were  in 
town  ;  where,  when  arrived,  he  sends  one  of  them 
to    inform  her  own,   and  the  others'   husbands,   for 


BACONS    REBELLION.  165 

what  purposes  he  had  brought  them  into  the  camp, 
to  be  placed  in  the  fore-front  of  his  men  at  such  time 
as  those  in  town  should  sally  forth  upon  him. 

The  poor  gentlewomen  were  mightily  astonished 
at  this  project  ;  neither  were  their  husbands  void  of 
amazements  at  this  subtile  invention.  If  Mr.  Fuller 
thought  it  strange  that  the  devil's  black  guard  should 
be  enrolled  God's  soldiers,  they  made  it  no  less 
wonderful  that  their  innocent  and  harmless  wives 
should  thus  be  entered  a  white  guard  to  the  devil. 
This  action  was  a  method  in  war  they  were  not  well 
acquainted  with  (no,  not  those  the  best  informed  in 
military  affairs),  that  before  they  could  come  to  pierce 
their  enemies'  sides,  they  must  be  obliged  to  dart 
their  weapons  through  their  wives'  breast  ;  by  which 
means  though  they  (in  their  own  persons)  might 
escape  without  wounds,  yet  it  might  be  the  lament- 
able fate  of  their  better  half  to  drop  by  gun-shot,  or 
otherwise  be  wounded  to  death. 

Whether  it  was  these  considerations,  or  some 
others  I  do  not  know,  that  kept  their  swords  in  their 
scabbards,  but  this  is  manifest  :  That  Bacon  knit 
more  knots  by  his  own  head  in  one  day  than  all  the 
hands  in  town  were  able  to  untie  in  a  whole  week  ; 
while  these  ladies'  white  aprons  became  of  greater 
force  to  keep  the  besieged  from  falling  out  than  his 
works  (a  pitiful  trench)  had  strength  to  repel  the 
weakest  shot  that  should  have  been  sent  into  his 
leaguer,  had  he  not  made  use  of  this  invention. 


100  BACON'S    REBELLION. 

BACON'S    DEATH. 

[From  the  Same.] 

Bacon  having  for  some  time  been  besieged  by 
sickness,  and  now  not  able  to  hold  out  any  longer, 
all  his  strength  and  provisions  being  spent,  surren- 
dered up  that  fort  he  was  no  longer  able  to  keep, 
into  the  hands  of  that  grim  and  all-conquering  cap- 
tain, Death,  after  that  he  had  implored  the  assistance 
of  the  above-mentioned  minister,  for  the  well  making 
his  articles  of  rendition.  The  only  religious  duty 
(as  they  say)  he  was  observed  to  perform  during 
these  intrigues  of  affairs,  in  which  he  was  so  consider- 
able an  actor,  and  so  much  concerned,  that  rather 
than  he  would  decline  the  cause,  he  became  so 
deeply  engaged  in  the  first  rise  thereof,  though  much 
urged  by  arguments  of  dehortations  by  his  nearest 
relations  and  best  friends,  that  he  subjected  himself 
to  all  those  inconveniences  that,  singly,  might  bring  a 
man  of  a  more  robust  frame  to  his  last  home.  After 
he  was  dead  he  was  bemoaned  in  these  following 
lines  (drawn  by  the  man  that  waited  upon  his  per- 
son, as  it  is  said),  and  who  attended  his  corpse  to 
their  burial  place,  but  where  deposited  till  the  gen- 
eral day,  not  known,  only  to  those  who  are  reso- 
lutely silent  in  that  particular.  There  was  many 
copies  of  verses  made  after  his  departure,  calculated 
to  the  latitude  of  their  affections  who  composed  them  ; 
as  a  relish  taken  from  both  appetites  I  have  here  sent 
you  a  couple  : 


BACON'S    EPITAPH.  167 


BACON'S  EPITAPH,  MADE  BY   HIS  MAN. 

Death,  why  so  cruel  ?     What  !   no  other  way 
To  manifest  thy  spleen,  but  thus  to  slay 
Our  hopes  of  safety,  liberty,  our  all, 
Which,  through  thy  tyranny,  with  him  must  fall 
To  its  late  chaos  ?      Had  thy  rigid  force 
Been  dealt  by  retail,  and  not  thus  in  gross, 
Grief  had  been  silent.      Now  we  must  complain, 
Since  thou,  in  him,  hast  more  than  thousand  slain, 
Whose  lives  and  safeties  did  so  much  depend 
On  him  their  life,  with  him  their  lives  must  end. 

If  't  be  a  sin  to  think  Death  brib'd  can  be 
We  must  be  guilty  j   say  't  was  bribery 
Guided  the  fatal  shaft.      Virginia's  foes, 
To  whom  for  secret  crimes  just  vengeance  owes 
Deserved  plagues,  dreading  their  just  desert, 
Corrupted  Death  by  Paracelsian  art 
Him  to  destroy  ;   whose  well  tried  courage  such, 
Their  heartless  hearts,  nor  arms,  nor  strength  could  touch. 

Who  now  must  heal  those  wounds,  or  stop  that  blood 
The  Heathen  made,  and  drew  into  a  flood  ? 
Who  is  't  must  plead  our  cause  ?  nor  trump,  nor  drum 
Nor  Deputation  ;   these,  alas  !  are  dumb 
And  cannot  speak.      Our  Arms  (though  ne'er  so  strong) 
Will  w^nt  the  aid  of  his  commanding  tongue, 
Which  conquer'd  more  than  Casar.      He  o'erthrew 
Only  tne  outward  frame  :  this  could  subdue 
The  rugged  works  of  nature.      Souls  replete 
With  dull  chill  cold,  he'd  animate  with  heat 
Drawn  forth  of  reason's  limbec.     In  a  word, 
Mars  and  Minerva  both  in  him  concurred 
For  arts,  for  arms,  whose  pen  and  sword  alike 
As  Cato's  did,  may  admiration  strike 
Into  his  foes  ;  while  they  confess  withal 
It  was  their  guilt  styl'd  him  a  criminal. 
Only  this  difference  does  from  truth  proceed  : 
They  in  the  guilt,  he  in  the  name  must  bleed. 
While  none  shall  dare  his  obsequies  to  sing 
In  deserv'd  measures  ;   until  time  shall  bring 


68  BACON'S    REBELLION. 


Truth  crown'd  with  freedom,  and  from  danger  free 
To  sound  his  praises  to  posterity. 

Here  let  him  rest  5   while  we  this  truth  report 
He's  gone  from  hence  unto  a  higher  Court 
To  plead  his  cause,  where  he  by  this  doth  know 
Whether  to  Caesar  he  was  friend,  or  foe. 


UPON    THE    DEATH    OF    G.   B. 

Whether  to  Caesar  he  was  friend  or  foe  ? 

Pox  take  such  ignorance,  do  you  not  know  ? 

Can  he  be  friend  to  Caesar,  that  shall  bring 

The  arms  of  Hell  to  fight  against  the  King  ? 

(Treason,  rebellion)  then  what  reason  have 

We  for  to  wait  upon  him  to  his  grave, 

There  to  express  our  passions  ?     Will  't  not  be 

Worse  than  his  crimes,  to  sing  his  elegy 

In  well  tun'd  numbers  •,   where  each  Ella  bears 

(To  his  flagitious  name)  a  flood  of  tears? 

A  name  that  hath  more  souls  with  sorrow  fed, 

Than  reached  Niobe,  single  tears  ere  shed  ; 

A  name  that  fill'd  all  hearts,  all  ears,  with  pain, 

Until  blest  fate  proclaimed,  Death  had  him  slain. 

Then  how  can  it  be  counted  for  a  sin 

Though  Death  (nay,  though  myself)  had  bribed  beep 

To  guide  the  fatal  shaft  ?      We  honor  all 

That  lends  a  hand  unto  a  traitor's  fall. 

What  though  the  well  paid  Rochit  soundly  ply 

And  box  the  pulpit  into  flattery ; 

Urging  his  rhetoric  and  strained  eloquence, 

T'  adorn  encoffin'd  filth  and  excrements; 

Though  the  defunct  (like  ours)  ne'er  tried 

A  well  intended  deed  until  he  died  ? 

'Twill  be  nor  sin,  nor  shame,  for  us  to  say 

A  twofold  passion  checker-works  this  day 

Of  joy  and  sorrow  ;   yet  the  last  doth  move 

On  feet  impotent,  wanting  strength  to  prove 

(Nor  can  the  art  of  logic  yield  relief) 

How  joy  should  be  surmounted  by  our  grief. 


VIOLENT    CONCUSSIONS.  1 69 

Yet  that  we  grieve  it  cannot  be  denied, 
But  't  is  because  he  was,  not  'cause  he  died. 
So  wept  the  poor  distressed  Ilium  dames 
Hearing  those  named  their  city  put  in  flames, 
And  country  ruin'd.      If  we  thus  lament, 
It  is  against  our  present  joys'  consent. 
For  if  the  rule  in  Physic  true  doth  prove, 
Remove  the  cause,  th'  effects  will  after  move, 
We  have  outliv'd  our  sorrows  ;   since  we  see 
The  causes  shifting  of  our  misery. 

Nor  is  't  a  single  cause  that  's  slipped  away, 
That  made  us  warble  out  a  well-a-day. 
The  brains  to  plot,  the  hands  to  execute 
Projected  ills,  Death  jointly  did  nonsuit 
At  his  black  Bar.      And  what  no  bail  could  save 
He  hath  committed  prisoner  to  the  grave ; 
From  whence  there's  no  reprieve.      Death  keep  him  close  j 
We  have  too  many  Devils  still  go  loose. 


"VIOLENT    CONCUSSIONS." 

[From  a  Narrative  furnished  Secretary  Harley 
by  a  Writer  signing  himself  T.  M.  Written 
in    1705.] 

Whilst  some  days  passed  in  settling  the  quotas  of 
men,  arms  and  ammunition,  provisions,  etc.,  each 
county  was  to  furnish,  one  morning  early  a  bruit  ran 
about  the  town,  "Bacon  is  fled,  Bacon  is  fled;" 
whereupon  I  went  straight  to  Mr.  Lawrence,  who 
formerly  was  of  Oxford  University,  and  for  wit, 
learning  and  sobriety  was  equalled  there  by  few,  and 
who  some  years  before  (as  Col.  Lee,  though  one 
of  the  Council  and  a  friend  of  the  Governor's,  in- 
formed me)  had  been  partially  treated  at  law,  for  a 
considerable  estate  on  behalf  of  a  corrupt  favorite  ; 


170  BACON'S    REBELLION. 

which  Lawrence  complaining  loudly  of,  the  Gov- 
ernor bore  him  a  grudge,  and  now  shaking  his  head, 
said,  '*  Old  treacherous  villain,"  and  that  his  house 
was  searched  that  morning  at  daybreak,  but  Bacon 
was  escaped  into  the  country,  having  intimation  that 
the  Governor's  generosity  in  pardoning  him  and  his 
followers,  and  restoring  him  to  his  seat  in  Council, 
were  no  other  than  previous  wheedles  to  amuse  him 
and  his  adherents  and  to  circumvent  them  by  strata- 
gem, forasmuch  as  the  taking  Mr.  Bacon  again  into 
the  Council  was  first  to  keep  him  out  of  the  Assem- 
bly, and  in  the  next  place  the  Governor  knew  the 
country  people  were  hastening  down  with  dreadful 
threatenings  to  doubly  revenge  all  wrongs  should  be 
done  to  Mr.  Bacon  or  his  men,  or  whoever  should 
have  had  the  least  hand  in  them. 

And  so  much  was  true  that  this  young  Mr. 
Nathaniel  Bacon  (not  yet  arrived  to  thirty  years)  had 
a  nigh  relation,  namely,  Col.  Nathaniel  Bacon, 
of  long  standing  in  the  Council,  a  very  rich,  politic 
man,  and  childless,  designing  this  kinsman  for  his 
heir,  who  (not  without  much  pains)  had  prevailed 
with  his  uneasy  cousin  to  deliver  the  forementioned 
written  recantation  at  the  bar,  having  compiled  it 
ready  to  his  hand,  and  by  whose  means  'twas  sup- 
posed that  timely  intimation  was  conveyed  to  the 
young  gentleman  to  flee  for  his  life  ;  and  also  in 
three  or  four  days  after  Mr.  Bacon  was  first  seized  I 
saw  abundance  of  men  in  town,  come  thither  from 
the  heads  of  the  rivers,  who,  finding  him  restored 
and  his  men  at  liberty,  returned  home  satisfied  ;  a 
few  days  after  which  the  Governor,  seeing  all  quiet, 
gave  out  private  warrants  to  take  him  again,  intend- 


VIOLENT   CONCUSSIONS. 


I7I 


ing,  as  was  thought,  to  raise  the  militia,  and  so  to 
dispose  things  as  to  prevent  his  friends  from  gathering 
any  more  into  a  like  numerous  body  and  coming 
down  a  second  time  to  save  him. 

In  three  or  four  days  after  this  escape,  upon  news 
that  Mr.  Bacon  was  thirty  miles  up  the  river,  at  the 
head  of  four  hundred  men,  the  Governor  sent  to 
the  parts  adjacent,  on  both  sides  James  River,  for  the 
militia  and  all  the  men  could  be  gotten  to  come  and 
defend  the  town.  Expresses  came  almost  hourly  of 
the  army's  approaches,  who  in  less  than  four  days 
after  the  first  account  of  them,  at  two  of  the  clock, 
entered  the  town,  without  being  withstood,  and 
formed  a  body  upon  a  green,  not  a  flight  shot  from 
the  end  of  the  state-house,  of  horse  and  foot,  as  well 
regular  as  veteran  troops,  who  forthwith  possessed 
themselves  of  all  the  avenues,  disarming  all  in  town, 
and  coming  thither  in  boats  or  by  land. 

In  half  an  hour  after  this  the  drum  beat  for  the 
House  to  meet,  and  in  less  than  an  hour  more  Mr. 
Bacon  came  with  a  file  of  fusileers  on  either  hand, 
near  the  corner  of  the  state-house,  where  the  Gov- 
ernor and  Council  went  forth  to  him.  We  saw 
from  the  window  the  Governor  open  his  breast,  and 
Bacon  strutting  betwixt  his  two  files  of  men,  with 
his  left  arm  on  Kenbow,  flinging  his  right  arm  every 
way,  both  like  men  distracted  ;  and  if,  in  this  mo- 
ment of  fury,  that  enraged  multitude  had  fallen  upon 
the  Governor  and  Council,  we  of  the  Assembly  ex- 
pected the  same  immediate  fate.  I  stepped  down, 
and  amongst  the  crowd  of  spectators  found  the  sea- 
men of  my  sloop,  who  prayed  me  not  to  stir  from 
them,   when,  in  two  minutes,  the  Governor  walked 


1  J2  BACON'S    REBELLION. 

towards  his  private  apartment,  a  quoit's  cast  distant, 
at  the  other  end  of  the  state-house,  the  gentlemen  of 
the  Council  following  him  ;  and  after  them  walked 
Mr.  Bacon  with  outrageous  postures  of  his  head, 
arms,  body,  and  legs,  often  tossing  his  hand  from  his 
sword  to  his  hat,  and  after  him  came  a  detachment 
of  fusileers  (muskets  not  being  there  in  use),  who 
with  their  locks  bent  presented  their  fusils  at  a  win- 
dow of  the  Assembly  cnamber  filled  with  faces, 
repeating  with  menacing  voices,  "  We  will  have  it, 
we  will  have  it,"  half  a  minute,  when  as  one  of  our 
House,  a  person  known  to  many  of  them,  shook  his 
handkerchief  out  at  the  window,  saying,  "  You  shall 
have  it,  you  shall  have  it,"  three  or  four  times  ;  at 
these  words  they  sat  down  their  fusils,  unbent  their 
locks  and  stood  still  until  Bacon,  coming  back,  fol- 
lowed him  to  their  main  body.  In  this  hubbub  a 
servant  of  mine  got  so  nigh  as  to  hear  the  Governor's 
words,  and  also  followed  Mr.  Bacon  and  heard  what 
he  said,  who  came  and  told  me,  that  when  the 
Governor  opened  his  breast,  he  said,  "Here  !  shoot 
me.  Foregod,  fair  mark  !  shoot  !  "  often  rehears- 
ing the  same,  without  any  other  words  ;  whereto 
Mr.  Bacon  answered,  u  No,  may  it  please  your 
Honor,  we  will,  not  hurt  a  hair  of  your  head,  nor 
of  any  other  man's  ;  we  are  come  for  a  commission 
to  save  our  lives  from  the  Indians,  which  you  have  so 
often  promised,  and   now  we  will  have  it  before  we 

g°-" 

But  when  Mr.  Bacon  followed  the  Governor  and 

Council    with     the     forementioned     impetuous    (like 

delirious)    actions,  whilst  that   party  presented  their 

fusils  at    the  window  full   of  faces,  he  said,  "Damn 


VIOLENT    CONCUSSIONS.  I  73 

my  blood,  I'll  kill  Governor,  Council,  Assembly,  and 
all,  and  then  I'll  sheathe  my  sword  in  my  own  heart's 
blood  ;  "  and  afterwards  'twas  said  Bacon  had  given 
a  signal  to  his  men  who  presented  their  fusils  at  those 
gazing  out  at  the  window,  that  if  he  should  draw  his 
sword  they  were  on  sight  of  it  to  fire,  and  slay  us  ; 
so  near  was  the  massacre  of  us  all  that  very  minute, 
had  Bacon  in  that  paroxysm  of  frantic  fury  but  drawn 
his  sword  before  the  pacific  handkerchief  was  shaken 
out  at  window. 

In  an  hour  or  more  after  these  violent  concussions 
Mr.  Bacon  came  up  to  our  chamber  and  desired  a 
commission  from  us  to  go  against  the  Indians.  Our 
Speaker  sat  silent,  when  one  Mr.  Blayton,  a  neigh- 
bor to  Mr.  Bacon  and  elected  with  him  a  member  of 
Assembly  for  the  same  county  (who  therefore  durst 
speak  to  him),  made  answer,  "  'Twas  not  in  our 
province  or  power,  nor  of  any  other,  save  the  King's 
vicegerent,  our  Governor."  He  pressed  hard  nigh 
half  an  hour's  harangue  on  the  preserving  our  lives 
from  the  Indians,  inspecting  the  public  revenues,  the 
exorbitant  taxes,  and  redressing  the  grievances  and 
calamities  of  that  deplorable  country,  whereto  having 
no  other  answer,  he  went  away  dissatisfied. 

Next  day  there  was  a  rumor  the  Governor  and 
Council  had  agreed  Mr.  Bacon  should  have  a  com- 
mission to  go  General  of  the  forces  we  then  were 
raising  ;  whereupon  I  being  a  member  for  Stafford, 
the  most  northern  frontier,  and  where  the  war  begun, 
considering  that  Mr.  Bacon  dwelling  in  the  most 
southern  frontier  county,  might  the  less  regard  the 
parts  I  represented,  I  went  to  Col.  Cole  (an  active 
member  of  the  Council)  desiring  his  advice,  if  ap- 


174  BACON'S    REBELLION. 

plications  to  Mr.  Bacon  on  that  subject  were  then 
seasonable  and  safe,  which  he  approving  and  earnestly 
advising  I  went  to  Mr.  Lawrence,  who  was  esteemed 
Mr.  Bacon's  principal  consultant,  to  whom  he  took 
me  with  him,  and  there  left  me,  where  I  was  enter- 
tained two  or  three  hours  with  the  particular  rela- 
tions of  divers  before-recited  transactions  ;  and  as  to 
the  matter  I  spake  of,  he  told  me  that  the  Governor 
had  indeed  promised  him  the  command  of  the  forces, 
and  if  his  Honor  should  keep  his  word  (which  he 
doubted)  he  assured  me  "  the  like  care  should  be 
taken  of  the  remotest  corners  in  the  land,  as  of  his 
own  dwelling-house,"  and  prayed  me  to  advise  him 
what  persons  in  those  parts  were  most  fit  to  bear 
commands.  I  frankly  gave  him  my  opinion  that  the 
most  satisfactory  gentlemen  to  Governor  and  people, 
would  be  commanders  of  the  militia,  wherewith  he 
was  well  pleased,  and  himself  wrote  a  list  of  those 
nominated. 

That  evening  I  made  known  what  had  passed 
with  Mr.  Bacon  to  my  colleague  Col.  Mason 
(whose  bottle  attendance  doubled  my  task)  ;  the 
matter  he  liked  well,  but  questioned  the  Governor's 
approbation  of  it. 

I  confessed  the  case  required  sedate  thoughts,  rea- 
soning that  he  and  such  like  gentlemen  must  either 
command  or  be  commanded,  and  if  on  their  denials 
Mr.  Bacon  should  take  distaste,  and  be  constrained  to 
appoint  commanders  out  of  the  rabble,  the  Governor 
himself  with  the  persons  and  estates  of  all  in  the  land 
would  be  at  their  dispose,  whereby  their  own  ruin 
might  be  owing  to  themselves.  In  this  he  agreed 
and  said,  "  If  the  Governor  would  give  his  own  com- 


VIOLENT   CONCUSSIONS.  I  75 

mission  he  would  be  content  to  serve  under  General 
Bacon"  (as  now  he  began  to  be  entitled),  but  first 
would  consult  other  gentlemen  in  the  same  circum- 
stances ;  who  all  concurred  'twas  the  most  safe 
barrier  in  view  against  pernicious  designs,  if  such 
should  be  put  in  practice.  With  this  I  acquainted 
Mr.  Lawrence,  who  went  rejoicing  to  Mr.  Bacon 
with  the  good  tidings  that  the  militia  commanders 
were  inclined  to  serve  under  him,  as  their  General, 
in  case  the  Governor  would  please  to  give  them  his 
own  commissions. 

We  of  the  House  proceeded  to  finish  the  bill  for 
the  war,  which  by  the  assent  of  the  Governor  and 
Council  being  passed  into  an  act,  the  Governor  sent 
us  a  letter  directed  to  his  Majesty,  wherein  were 
these  words  :  '*  I  have  above  thirty  years  governed 
the  most  flourishing  country  the  sun  ever  shone  over, 
but  am  now  encompassed  with  rebellion,  like  waters, 
in  every  respect  like  to  that  of  Massanello,  except 
their  leader,"  and  of  like  import  was  the  substance 
of  that  letter.  But  we  did  not  believe  his  Honor 
sent  us  all  he  wrote   to  his   Majesty. 

Some  judicious  gentlemen  of  our  House  likewise 
penned  a  letter  or  remonstrance  to  be  sent  his  Majesty, 
setting  forth  the  gradations  of  those  eruptions,  and  two 
or  three  of  them  with  Mr.  Minge,  our  clerk,  brought 
it  me  to  compile  a  few  lines  for  the  conclusion  of  it, 
which  I  did  (though  not  without  regret  in  those 
watchful  times,  when  every  man  had  eyes  on  him); 
but  what  I  wrote  was  with  all  possible  deference  to 
the  Governor  and  in  the  most  soft  terms  my  pen 
could  find  the  case  to   a^mf. 

Col.    Spencer,   being   mv  -leijrnber    and    intimate 


176  BACONS    REBELLION. 

friend,  and  a  prevalent  member  in  the  Council,  I 
prayed  him  to  entreat  the  Governor  we  might  be 
dissolved,  for  that  was  my  first  and  should  be  my 
last  going  astray  from  my  wonted  sphere  of  mer- 
chandise and  other  my  private  concernments  into 
the  dark  and  slippery  meanders  of  court  embarrass- 
ments. He  told  me  the  Governor  had  not  then 
determined  his  intention,  but  he  would  move  his 
Honor  about  it,  and  in  two  or  three  days  we  were 
dissolved,  which  I  was  most  heartily  glad  of,  because 
of  my  getting  loose  again  from  being  hampered  amongst 
those  pernicious  entanglements  in  the  labyrinths  and 
snares  of  State  ambiguities,  and  which  until  then  1 
had  not  seen  the  practice  nor  the  dangers  of ;  for  it  was 
observed  that  several  of  the  members  had  secret  badges 
of  distinction  fixed  upon  them,  as  not  docile  enough 
to  gallop  the  future  races  that  court  seemed  disposed 
to  lead  them,  whose  maxims  I  had  ofttimes  heard 
whispered  before,  and  then  found  confirmed  by  divers 
considerate  gentlemen,  viz.,  "That  the  wise  and  rich 
were  prone  to  faction  and  sedition,  but  the  fools  and 
poor  were  easy  to  be  governed." 

Many  members  being  met  one  evening  nigh  sunset, 
to  take  our  leaves  each  of  other,  in  order  next  day  to 
return  homewards,  came  Gen.  Bacon  with  his  hand 
full  of  unfolded  papers  and  overlooking  us  round, 
walking  in  the  room,  said,  "Which  of  these  gentle- 
men shall  I  entreat  to  write  a  few  words  for  me  ? ' ' 
where,  every  one  looking  aside  as  not  willing  to 
meddle,  Mr.  Lawrence  pointed  at  me,  saying, 
"That  gentleman  writes  very  well;"  which  I 
endeavoring  to  excuse,  Mr.  Bacon  came  stooping  to 
the  ground  and  said,  •■  i  <ay,  sir,  do  me  the  honor 
to  write  a  line  ror  u«r 


VIOLENT   CONCUSSIONS.  IJJ 

This  surprising  accostment  shocked  me  into  a 
melancholy  consternation,  dreading  upon  one  hand 
that  Stafford  County  would  feel  the  smart  of  his 
resentment  if  I  should  refuse  him  whose  favor  I  had 
so  lately  sought  and  been  generously  promised  on 
their  behalf;  and  on  the  other  hand  fearing  the 
Governor's  displeasure,  who  I  knew  would  soon 
hear  of  it.  What  seemed  most  prudent  at  this 
hazardous  dilemma  was  to  obviate  the  present  impend- 
ing peril  ;  so  Mr.  Bacon  made  me  sit  the  whole  night 
by  him  filling  up  those  papers,  which  I  then  saw  were 
blank  commissions  signed  by  the  Governor,  inserting 
such  names  and  writing  other  matters  as  he  dictated  ; 
which  I  took  to  be  the  happy  effects  of  the  consult 
before-mentioned  with  the  commanders  of  the  militia, 
because  he  gave  me  the  names  of  very  few  others  to 
put  into  these  commissions  ;  and  in  the  morning  he 
left  me  with  an  hour's  work  or  more  to  finish,  when 
came  to  me  Capt.  Carver,  and  said  he  had  been  to 
wait  on  the  General  for  a  commission,  and  that  he 
was  resolved  to  adventure  his  old  bones  against  the 
Indian  rogues,  with  other  the  like  discourse,  and 
at  length  told  me  that  whatever  I  desired  in  the 
General's  power  was  at  my  service.  I  prayed 
him  humbly  to  thank  his  Honor,  and  to  acquaint  him 
I  had  no  other  boon  to  crave  than  his  promised  kind- 
ness to  Stafford  County,  for  beside  the  not  being  worthy, 
I  never  had  been  conversant  in  military  matters,  and 
also  having  lived  tenderly,  my  service  could  be  of  no 
benefit,  because  the  hardships  and  fatigues  of  a  wilder- 
ness campaign  would  put  a  speedy  period  to  my  days. 
Little  expecting  to  hear  of  more  intestine  broils,  I 
went  home  to  Potomac,   where  reports  were  after- 


178  BACON'S    REBELLION. 

wards  various.  We  had  account  that  General  Bacon 
was  marched  with  a  thousand  men  into  the  forest  to 
seek  the  enemy  Indians,  and  in  a  few  days  after  our 
next  news  was  that  the  Governor  had  summoned 
together  the  militia  of  Gloucester  and  Middlesex 
Counties  to  the  number  of  twelve  hundred  men,  and 
proposed  to  them  to  follow  and  suppress  that  rebel 
Bacon  ;  whereupon  arose  a  murmuring  before  his 
face,  "  Bacon,  Bacon,  Bacon,"  and  all  walked  out 
of  the  field,  muttering  as  they  went,  "  Bacon,  Bacon, 
Bacon,"  leaving  the  Governor  and  those  that  came 
with  him  to  themselves,  who  being  thus  abandoned 
wafted  over  Chesapeake  Bay  thirty  miles  to  Accomac, 
where  are  two  counties  of  Virginia. 

Mr.  Bacon,  hearing  of  this,  came  back  part  of  the 
way,  and  sent  out  parties  of  horse  patrolling  through 
every  county,  carrying  away  prisoners  all  whom  he 
distrusted  might  any  more  molest  his  Indian  persecu- 
tion, yet  giving  liberty  to  such  as  pledged  him  their 
oaths  to  return  home  and  live  quiet  ;  the  copies  or 
contents  of  which  oaths  I  never  saw,  but  heard  were 
very  strict,  though  little  observed. 

About  this  time  was  a  spy  detected  pretending 
himself  a  deserter,  who  had  twice  or  thrice  come 
and  gone  from  party  to  party,  and  was  by  council 
of  war  sentenced  to  death,  after  which  Bacon 
declared  openly  to  him,  "  That  if  any  one  man  in 
the  army  would  speak  a  word  to  save  him,  he  should 
not  suffer,"  which  no  man  appearing  to  do,  he  was 
executed.  Upon  this  manifestation  of  clemency 
Bacon  was  applauded  for  a  merciful  man,  not  willing 
to  spill  Christian  blood  ;  nor  indeed  was  it  said  that 
he  put  any  other  man  to  death  in  cold    blood,   or 


VIOLENT   CONCUSSIONS.  I  79 

plunder(ed)  any  house.  Nigh  the  same  time  came 
Maj.  Langston  with  his  troop  of  horse  and  quartered 
two  nights  at  my  house,  who  (after  high  compliments 
from  the  General)  told  me  I  was  desired  f>  to  accept 
the  lieutenancy  for  preserving  the  peace  in  the  s. 
northern  counties  betwixt  Potomac  and  Rappahan- 
nock Rivers."  I  humbly  thanked  his  Honor, 
excusing  myself  as  I  had  done  before  on  that  invita- 
tion of  the  like  nature  at  Jamestown,  but  did  hear  he 
was  mightily  offended  at  my  evasions  and  threatened 
to  remember  me. 

The  Governor  made  a  second  attempt,  coming 
over  from  Accomac  with  what  men  he  could  pro- 
cure in  sloops  and  boats  forty  miles  up  the  river  to 
Jamestown,  which  Bacon  hearing  of,  came  again 
down  from  his  forest  pursuit,  and  finding  a  bank 
not  a  flight  shot  long  cast  up  thwart  the  neck  of 
the  peninsula  there  in  Jamestown,  he  stormed  it, 
and  took  the  town,  in  which  attack  were  twelve  men 
slain  and  wounded,  but  the  Governor  with  most  of 
his  followers  fled  back  down  the  river  in  their  vessels. 

Here,  resting  a  few  days,  they  concerted  the  burn- 
ing of  the  town,  wherein  Mr.  Lawrence  and  Mr. 
Drumond,  owning  the  two  best  houses  save  one, 
set  fire  each  to  his  own  house,  which  example  the 
soldiers  following,  laid  the  whole  town  (with  church 
and  state-house)  in  ashes,  saying,  "  The  rogues  should 
harbor  no  more  there." 

On  these  reiterated  molestations,  Bacon  calls  a 
convention  at  Middle  Plantation,  fifteen  miles  from 
Jamestown,  in  the  month  of  August  1676,  where 
an  oath  with  one  or  more  proclamations  were  formed, 
and  writs  by  him  issued  for  an  Assembly.      The  oaths 


l8o  BACON'S    REBELLION. 

or  writs  I  never  saw,  but  one  proclamation  commanded 
all  men  in  the  land  on  pain  of  death  to  join  him,  and 
retire  into  the  wilderness  upon  arrival  of  the  forces 
expected  from  England,  and  oppose  them  until  they 
should  propose  or  accept  to  treat  of  an  accommoda- 
tion, which  we  who  lived  comfortably  could  not  have 
undergone,  so  as  the  whole  land  must  have  become  an 
Aceldama  if  God's  exceeding  mercy  had  not  timely 
removed  him. 


WILLIAM    HUBBARD. 

William  Hubbard,  a  New  England  clergyman 
of  decided  historical  bent,  was  born  in  England  in 
1 62 1,  and  died  in  1704  at  Ipswich,  where  he  had 
been  pastor  from  1665  until  a  year  before  his  death. 
He  was  brought  to  New  England  as  a  child  in  1630, 
and  was  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1642.  A  friend 
describes  him  as  "  hospitable,  amiable,  equal  to  any 
of  his  contemporaries  in  learning  and  candor,  and 
superior  to  all  as  a  writer,"  but  the  specimens  that 
we  present  will  hardly  bear  out  the  last  judgment. 
His  abilities  were,  however,  highly  regarded  by  his 
fellow  New  Englanders,  for  the  Government  commis- 
sioned him  to  write  a  history  of  New  England,  for 
the  manuscript  of  which  he  was  paid  fifty  pounds. 
This  was  not  then  printed,  and  barely  escaped  destruc- 
tion by  the  mob  that  burned  Governor  Hutchinson's 
house  in  1765.  It  was  rescued  by  Dr.  Ardrew 
Elliot  and  presented  by  his  son  to  the  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society,  by  whom  it  was  printed  in  181  5. 
It  is  more  voluminous  than  interesting,  and  is  not  rep- 
resented in  our  selections.  His  Narrative  of  the 
Trouble  with  the  Indians  of  New  England,  a  less 
ambitious  but  very  popular  work,  a  volume  of  ser- 
mons, and  a  Testimony  of  the  Order  of  the  Gospel 
in  Churches,  alone  appeared  in  the  lifetime  of  their 
author.  Our  selections  are  taken  from  the  Narrative 
181 


182  WILLIAM    HUBBARD. 

of  the  Troubles,  a  book  which,  with  many  others 
dealing  with  the  subject  of  Indian  warfare,  aroused 
breathless  interest  around   New  England   firesides. 


THE    BEGINNING    OF    HOSTILITIES. 

[From    "A    Narrative    of    the    Indian   Wars   in 
New    England."       1677.] 

The  occasion  of  Philip's  so  sudden  taking  up  arms 
the  last  year,  was  this  :  There  was  one  John  Sausa- 
man,  a  very  cunning  and  plausible  Indian,  well  skilled 
in  the  English  language,  and  bred  up  in  the  profession 
of  Christian  Religion,  employed  as  a  schoolmaster  at 
Natick,  the  Indian  Town,  who  upon  some  misde- 
meanor fled  from  his  place  to  Philip,  by  whom  he 
was  entertained  in  the  room  and  office  of  secretary, 
and  his  chief  councillor,  whom  he  trusted  with  all  his 
affairs  and  secret  counsels.  But  afterwards,  whether 
upon  the  sting  of  his  own  conscience,  or  by  the  fre- 
quent solicitations  of  Mr.  Eliot,  that  had  known  him 
from  a  child,  and  instructed  him  in  the  principles  of 
our  religion,  who  was  often  laying  before  him  the 
heinous  sin  of  his  apostacy,  and  returning  back  to  his 
old  vomit  ;  he  was  at  last  prevailed  with  to  forsake 
Philip,  and  return  back  to  the  Christian  Indians  it 
Natick  where  he  was  baptized,  manifested  public 
repentance  for  all  his  former  offences,  and  made 
a  serious  profession  of  the  Christian  Religion  :  and 
did  apply  himself  to  preach  to  the  Indians,  wherein 
he  was  better  gifted  than  any  other  of  the  Indian 
nation  ;   so  as  he  was  observed   to  conform  more  to 


BEGINNING   OF    HOSTILITIES.        183 

the  English  manners  than  any  other  Indian  :  yet 
having  occasion  to  go  up  with  some  others  of  his 
countrymen  to  Namasket,  whether  for  the  advantage 
of  fishing  or  some  such  occasion,  it  matters  not  ; 
being  there  not  far  from  Philip's  country,  he  had 
occasion  to  be  much  in  the  company  of  Philip's 
Indians,  and  of  Philip  himself:  by  which  means  he 
discerned  by  several  circumstances  that  the  Indians 
were  plotting  anew  against  us  ;  the  which  out  of 
faithfulness  to  the  English  the  said  Sausaman  informed 
the  Governor  of  ;  adding  also,  that  if  it  were  known 
that  he  revealed  it,  he  knew  they  would  presently  kill 
him.  There  appearing  so  many  concurrent  testimo- 
nies from  others,  making  it  the  more  probable,  that 
there  was  certain  truth  in  the  information  ;  some 
inquiry  was  made  into  the  business,  by  examining 
Philip  himself,  several  of  his  Indians,  who  although 
they  could  do  nothing,  yet  could  not  free  themselves 
from  just  suspicion  ;  Philip  therefore  soon  after  con- 
trived the  said  Sausaman's  death,  which  was  strangely 
discovered  ;  notwithstanding  it  was  so  cunningly 
effected,  for  they  that  murdered  him,  met  him  upon 
the  ice  upon  a  great  pond,  and  presently  after  they 
had  knocked  him  down,  put  him  under  the  ice,  yet 
leaving  his  gun  and  his  hat  upon  the  ice,  that  it  might 
be  thought  he  fell  in  accidentally  through  the  ice  and 
was  drowned  :  but  being  missed  by  his  friend,  who 
finding  his  hat  and  his  gun,  they  were  thereby  led  to 
the  place,  where  his  body  was  found  under  the  ice  : 
when  they  took  it  up  to  bury  him,  some  of  his  friends 
specially  one  David,  observed  some  bruises  about  his 
head,  which  made  them  suspect  he  was  first  knocked 
down,  before  he  was  put  into  the  water  :    however, 


184  WILLIAM    HUBBARD. 

they  buried  him  near  about  the  place  where  he  was 
found,  without  making  any  further  inquiry  at  present  : 
nevertheless  David  his  friend,  reported  these  things  to 
some  English  at  Taunton  (a  town  not  far  from 
Namasket),  occasioned  the  Governor  to  inquire  fur- 
ther into  the  business,  wisely  considering,  that  as 
Sausamin  had  told  him,  If  it  were  known  that  he 
had  revealed  any  of  their  plots,  they  would  murder 
him  for  his  pains  :  wherefore  by  special  warrant  the 
body  of  Sausaman  being  digged  again  out  of  his 
grave,  it  was  very  apparent  that  he  had  been  killed, 
and  not  drowned.  And  by  a  strange  providence  an 
Indian  was  found,  that  by  accident  was  standing 
unseen  upon  a  hill,  had  seen  them  murder  the  said 
Sausaman,  but  durst  never  reveal  it  for  fear  of  losing 
his  own  life  likewise,  until  he  was  called  t:>  the  Court 
at  Plymouth,  or  before  the  Governor,  where  he 
plainly  confessed  what  he  had  seen.  The  murderers 
being  apprehended,  were  convicted  by  his  undeniable 
testimDny,  and  other  remarkable  circumstances,  and 
so  were  all  put  to  death,  being  but  three  in  number  ; 
the  last  of  them  confessed  immediately  before  his 
death,  that  his  father  (one  of  the  councillors  and 
special  friends  of  Philip)  was  one  of  the  two  that 
murdered  Sausaman,  himself  only  looking  on.  This 
was  done  at  Plymouth  Court,  held  in  June  1674.. 
Insomuch  that  Philip  apprehending  the  danger  his 
own  head  was  in  next,  never  used  any  further  means 
to  clear  himself  from  what  was  like  to  be  laid  to  his 
charge,  either  about  his  plotting  against  the  English, 
nor  yet  about  Sausaman's  death  :  but  by  keeping  his 
men  continually  about  him  in  arms,  and  gathering 
what    strangers  he  could  to   join  with   him,  marching 


BEGINNING   OF    HOSTILITIES.        1 85 

up  and  down  constantly  in  arms,  both  all  the  while 
the  Court  sat,  as  well  as  afterwards.  The  English 
of  Plymouth  hearing  of  all  this,  yet  took  no  further 
notice,  than  only  to  order  a  militia  watch  in  all  the 
adjacent  towns,  hoping  that  Philip  finding  himself  not 
likely  to  be  arraigned  by  order  of  the  said  Court,  the 
present  cloud  might  blow  over,  as  some  others  of  like 
nature  had  done  before  ;  but  in  conclusion,  the  mat- 
ter proved  otherwise  ;  for  Philip  finding  his  strength 
daily  increasing,  by  the  flocking  of  neighbor  Indians 
unto  him,  and  sending  their  wives  and  children  to  the 
Narhagansets  for  security  (as  they  use  to  do  when 
they  intend  war  with  any  of  their  enemies,)  imme- 
diately they  began  to  alarm  the  English  at  Swanzy, 
(the  next  town  to  Philip's  country,)  as  it  were  dar- 
ing the  English  to  begin  ;  at  last  their  insolencies 
grew  to  such  an  height,  that  they  began  not  only  to 
use  threatening  words  to  the  English,  but  also  to  kill 
their  cattle  and  rifle  their  houses  ;  whereat  an  Eng- 
lishman was  so  provoked,  that  he  let  fly  a  gun  at  an 
Indian,  but  did  only  wound,  not  kill  him  ;  where- 
upon the  Indians  immediately  began  to  kill  all  the 
English  they  could,  so  as  on  the  24th  of  June,  1675, 
was  the  alarm  of  war  first  sounded  in  Plymouth  Col- 
ony, when  eight  or  nine  of  the  English  were  slain  in 
and  about  Swanzy  :  They  first  making  a  shot  at  a 
company  of  English  as  they  returned  from  the  assem- 
bly where  they  were  met  in  way  of  humiliation  that 
day,  whereby  they  killed  one  and  wounded  others  : 
and  then  likewise  at  the  same  time,  they  slew  two 
men  on  the  highway,  sent  to  call  a  surgeon,  and  bar- 
barously the  same  day  murdered  six  men  in  and  about 
a  dwelling  house  in  another  part  of  the    town  :     all 


l86  WILLIAM    HUBBARD. 

which  outrages  were  committed  so  suddenly,  that  the 
English  had  no  time  to  make  any  resistance.  For  on 
the  1 4th  of  the  same  month,  besides  endeavors  used 
by  Mr.  Brown  of  Swanzy,  one  of  the  magistrates 
of  Plymouth  jurisdiction,  an  amicable  letter  was  sent 
from  the  Council  of  Plymouth  to  Philip,  showing  a 
dislike  of  his  practices,  and  advising  him  to  dismiss 
his  strange  Indians,  and  not  suffer  himself  to  be  abused 
by  false  reports  concerning'  them  that  intended  him 
no  hurt  :  but  no  answer  could  be  obtained,  otherwise 
than  threatning  of  war,  which  it  was  hoped  might 
have  been  prevented,  as  heretofore  it  had  been,  when 
things  seemed  to  look  with  as  bad  a  face  as  then  they 
did.  However  the  Governor  and  Council  of  Ply- 
mouth, understanding  that  Philip  continued  in  his 
resolution,  and  manifested  no  inclination  to  peace, 
they  immediately  sent  us  what  forces  they  could  to 
secure  the  towns  thereabouts,  and  make  resistance  as 
occasion  might  be  :  and  also  dispatched  away  mes- 
sengers to  the  Massachusetts  Governor  and  Council, 
letting  them  know  the  state  of  things  about  Mount 
Hope  :  and  desiring  their  speedy  assistance,  upon 
which,  care  was  immediately  taken  with  all  expedi- 
tion to  send  such  supplies  as  were  desired  :  But  in 
the  mean  time  two  messengers  were  dispatched  to 
Philip,  to  try  whether  he  could  not  be  diverted  from 
his  bloody  enterprize,  so  as  to  have  prevented  the 
mischief  since  fallen  out,  hoping,  that  as  once  before, 
viz.,  anno  1671,  by  their  mediation,  a  stop  was  put 
to  the  like  tragedy  ;  so  the  present  war  might  by  the 
same  means  have  been  now  turned  aside.  For  in 
the  said  year,  Philip  had  firmly  engaged  himself, 
when  he  was  at  Boston,  not  to  quarrel  with  Plymouth 


BEGINNING   OF    HOSTILITIES.        187 

until  he  had  first  addressed  himself  to  the  Massachu- 
setts for  advice  and  approbation  :  But  the  two  mes- 
sengers aforesaid,  finding  the  men  slain  in  the  road, 
June  24,  as  they  were  going  for  the  surgeon,  ap- 
prehended it  not  safe  to  proceed  any  further,  con- 
sidering also,  that  a  peace  now  could  not  honorably 
be  concluded  after  such  barbarous  outrages  commit- 
ted upon  some  of  the  neighbor  colony  :  Wherefore 
returning  with  all  speed  to  Boston,  the  Massachusetts 
forces  were  dispatched  away  with  all  imaginable 
haste,  as  the  exigent  of  the  matter  did  require,  some 
of  them  being  then  upon,  or  ready  for  their  march, 
the  rest  were  ordered  to  follow  after,  as  they  could 
be  raised.  The  sending  forth  of  which,  because  it 
was  the  first  engagement  in  any  warlike  preparations 
against  the  Indians  shall  be  more  particularly  declared. 
On  the  26th  of  June  a  foot  company  under  Capt. 
Daniel  Henchman,  with  a  troop  under  Capt.  Thomas 
Prentice,  were  sent  out  of  Boston  towards  Mount 
Hope  ;  it  being  late  in  the  afternoon  before  they 
began  to  march,  the  central  eclipse  of  the  moon  in 
Capric  happened  in  the  evening  before  they  came  up 
to  Neponset  River,  about  twenty  miles  from  Boston, 
which  occasioned  them  to  make  an  halt  for  a  little 
repast,  till  the  moon  recovered  her  light  again.  Some 
melancholy  fancies  would  not  be  persuaded,  but  that 
the  eclipse  falling  out  at  that  instant  of  time  was  omi- 
nous, conceiving  also  that  in  the  centre  of  the  moon 
they  discerned  an  unusual  black  spot,  not  a  little  re- 
sembling the  scalp  of  an  Indian  :  As  some  others 
not  long  before,  imagined  they  saw  the  form  of  an 
Indian  bow,  accounting  that  likewise  ominous  (al- 
though the  mischief  following  was  done  by  guns,  not 


1 88  WILLIAM    HUBBARD. 

by  bows)  both  the  one  and  the  other,  might  rather 
have  thought  of  what  Marcus  Crassus,  the  Roman 
General,  going  forth  with  an  army  against  the  Par- 
thians,  once  wisely  replied  to  a  private  soldier,  that 
would  have  dissuaded  him  from  marching  at  that  time, 
because  of  an  eclipse  of  the  moon  in  Capricorn,  (that 
he  was  more  afraid  of  Sagitarius  than  of  Capricornus) 
meaning  the  arrows  of  the  Parthians  (accounted  very 
good  archers)  from  whom,  as  things  then  fell  out,  was 
his  greatest  danger.  But  after  the  moon  had  waded 
through  the  dark  shadow  of  the  earth,  and  borrowed 
her  light  again,  by  the  help  thereof  the  two  com- 
panies marched  on  towards  Woodcok's  House,  thirty 
miles  from  Boston,  where  they  arrived  next  morn- 
ing.   .    .    . 


THE    TURN   OF   THE   TIDE. 

[From  the  Same.] 

There  was  at  this  time  no  small  hopes  of  surpris- 
ing Philip  ;  several  reports  being  brought  that  he  was 
seen  in  this  and  that  place,  not  having  above  twenty 
or  thirty  men  attending  on  him  ;  but  his  time  was 
not  yet  fully  come,  nor  had  he  as  yet  fully  accom- 
plished all  that  mischief  he  was  like  to  be  suffered  to 
do.  For  on  the  1st  of  July,  1676,  a  party  of  his 
Indians  committed  a  horrid  and  barbarous  murder 
upon  Mr.  Hezekiah  Willet,  of  Swanzey,  an  hopeful 
young  gentleman  as  any  in  those  parts.  They  used 
frequently  to  keep  a  sentinel  on  the  top  of  their 
house  from  a  watch  house  built  thereon,  whence  they 


THE   TURN    OF   THE   TIDE.  189 

could  discover  any  Indians  before  they  came  near 
the  house,  but  not  hearing  of  the  enemy  in  those 
parts  for  a  considerable  time,  that  necessary  piece  of 
circumspection  was  omitted  that  day,  whereby  that 
deserving  person  was  betrayed  into  their  cruel  hands  ; 
for  within  a  quarter  of  an  hour  after  he  went  out  of 
his  own  door,  within  sight  of  his  own  house,  he  was 
shot  at  by  three  of  them  at  once,  from  every  one  of 
whom  he  received  a  mortal  wound  ;  they  after  their 
barbarous  manner  took  off  his  head,  and  carried  it 
away  with  them  (which,  however,  was  soon  after 
recovered)  leaving  the  trunk  of  his  body  behind  as  a 
sad  monument  of  their  inhuman  cruelty.  The  same 
Indians,  not  being  above  thirty  in  number,  took  away 
a  negro  belonging  to  the  same  family,  who,  being 
faithful  to  his  master's  and  his  country's  interest,  ven- 
tured his  life  to  make  his  escape,  which  was  the  pres- 
ervation of  many  others  ;  for  the  said  negro,  being  a 
little  acquainted  with  their  language,  discovered  to  the 
English  after  his  escape  Philip's  purpose  to  seize  such 
and  such  places.  In  the  first  place  to  assault  Taun- 
ton, which  in  all  probability  had  been  in  great  danger, 
if  their  treacherous  plot  and  purposes  had  not  so  won- 
derfully been  made  known  beforehand.  The  said 
negro  affirmed  that  there  was  near  a  thousand  of  them  ; 
for  he  observed  that  although  they  had  killed  twenty 
head  of  neat  cattle  over  night,  yet  there  was  not  any 
part  of  them  left  the  next  day  at  eight  o'clock  in  the 
morning.  By  this  special  providence  the  enemy  was 
defeated  of  their  purpose,  and  never  after  had  an 
opportunity  to  do  any  considerable  damage  to  the 
English  in  that  part  of  the  country.  So,  after  this 
day,  we  may  truly  date  the  time  of  our  deliverance 


190  WILLIAM    HUBBARD. 

and  beginning  of  revenges  upon  the  enemy  ;  now  is 
their  own  turn  come,  when  it  shall  be  done  unto 
them  as  they  have  done  unto  us  :  they  that  before  led 
others  into  captivity  must  henceforth  go  into  captivity 
themselves  ;  and  they  that  killed  with  the  sword  must 
themselves  be  killed  with  the  sword,  as  in  the  sequel 
of  this  narrative  will  abundantly  be  manifest.    .    .    . 


PHILIP'S    DEATH. 

This  bloody  wretch  had  one  week  or  two  more  to 
live,  an  object  of  pity,  but  a  spectacle  of  divine  ven- 
geance ;  his  own  followers  beginning  now  to  plot 
against  his  life,  to  make  the  better  terms  for  their  own, 
as  they  did  also  seek  to  betray  Squaw  Sachem  of 
Pocasset,  Philip's  near  kinswoman  and  confederate. 
For, 

August  6.  An  Indian  willing  to  shift  for  himself, 
fled  to  Taunton,  offering  to  lead  any  of  the  English 
that  would  follow  him,  to  a  party  of  Indians,  which 
they  might  easily  apprehend  ;  which  twenty  attempted, 
and  accordingly  seized  the  whole  company  to  the 
number  of  twenty-six  ;  all  but  that  Squaw  Sachem 
herself,  who  intending  to  make  an  escape  from  the 
danger,  attempted  to  get  over  the  river  or  arm  of  the 
sea  near  by,  upon  a  raft  of  some  pieces  of  broken 
wood  ;  but  whether  tired  and  spent  with  swimming, 
or  starved  with  cold  and  hunger,  she  was  found  stark 
naked  in  Metapoiset,  not  far  from  the  waterside  ; 
which  made  some  think,  that  she  was  first  half 
drowned,  and  so  ended  her  wretched  life  just  in  that 
place  where  the  year  before  she  had  helped  Philip  to 


PHILIP'S   DEATH.  191 

make  his  escape  :  her  head  being  cut  off  and  set  upon 
a  pole  in  Taunton,  was  known  by  some  Indians  then 
prisoners,  which  set  them  into  an  horrid  lamentation  ; 
but  such  was  the  righteous  hand  of  God,  in  bringing 
at  the  last  that  mischief  upon  themselves,  which  they 
had  without  cause  thus  long  acted  against  others. 

Philip,  like  a  savage  and  wild  beast,  having  been 
hunted  by  the  English  forces  through  the  woods, 
above  an  hundred  miles  backward  and  forward,  at 
last  was  driven  to  his  own  den,  upon  Mount-Hope, 
where  retiring  himself  with  a  few  of  his  best  friends 
into  a  swamp,  which  proved  but  a  prison  to  keep  him 
fast,  till  the  messengers  of  death  came  by  divine  per- 
mission to  execute  vengeance  upon  him,  which  was 
thus  accomplished. 

Such  had  been  his  inveterate  malice  and  wicked- 
ness against  the  English,  that  despairing  of  mercy 
from  them,  he  could  not  bear  that  anything  should 
be  suggested  to  him  about  a  peace,  insomuch  as  he 
caused  one  of  his  confederates  to  be  killed  for  pro- 
pounding an  expedient  of  peace  ;  which  so  provoked 
some  of  his  company,  not  altogether  so  desperate  as 
himself,  that  one  of  them  (being  near  of  kin  that  was 
killed)  fled  to  Road-Island  (whither,  that  active 
champion  Capt.  Church  was  newly  retired,  to  re- 
cruit his  men  for  a  little  time,  being  much  tired 
with  hard  marches  all  that  week)  informing  them 
that  Philip  was  fled  to  a  swamp  in  Mount-Hope 
whither  he  would  undertake  to  lead  them  that  would 
pursue  him.  This  was  welcome  news,  and  the  best 
cordial  for  such  martial  spirits  :  whereupon  he  im- 
mediately, with  a  small  company  of  men,  part  Eng- 
lish  and   part   Indians,   began  another  march,  which 


192  WILLIAM    HUBBARD. 

shall  prove  fatal  to  Philip,  and  end  that  controversy 
betwixt  the  English  and  him  :  for  coming  very  early 
to  the  side  of  the  swamp,  his  soldiers  began  presently 
to  surround  it,  and  whether  the  Devil  appeared  to 
him  in  a  dream  that  night,  as  he  did  unto  Saul,  fore- 
boding his  tragical  end  (it  matters  not)  ;  as  he 
intended  to  make  his  escape  out  of  the  swamp,  he 
was  shot  through  the  heart  by  an  Indian  of  his  own 
nation,  as  is  said,  that  had  all  this  while  kept  himself 
in  a  neutrality  until  this  time,  but  now  had  the  cast- 
ing-vote in  his  power,  by  which  he  determined  the 
quarrel  that  had  held  so  long  in  suspense.  In  him  is 
fulfilled  what  was  said  in  the  Prophet,  Wo  to  thee 
that  spoileth,  and  thou  wast  not  spoilt,  and  dealest 
treacherously,  and  they  dealt  not  treacherously  with 
thee  ;  when  thou  shalt  make  an  end  to  deal  treacherously, 
they  shall  deal  treacherously  with  thee,  Isa.  33-  1. 

With  Philip  at  this  time  fell  five  of  his  truest  fol- 
lowers, of  whom  one  was  said  to  be  the  son  of  his 
chief  captain,  that  had  shot  the  first  gun  at  the  Eng- 
lish the  year  before.  This  was  done  August  12, 
1676,  a  remarkable  testimony  of  divine  favour  to  the 
Colony  of  Plymouth,  who  had  for  their  former  suc- 
cesses, appointed  the  17th  day  of  August  following, 
to  be  kept  as  a  day  of  solemn  Thanksgiving  to 
Almighty  God. 


MARY    ROWLANDSON. 

Mary  Rowlandson,  the  narrative  of  whose  Cap- 
tivity and  Removes  among  the  Indians  appeared  in 
1682,  and  was  a  very  popular  book,  was  a  daughter 
of  John  White  and  the  wife  of  Rev.  Joseph  Rowland- 
son,  the  first  minister  of  Lancaster,  Massachusetts. 
During  King  Philip's  War,  on  the  tenth  of  February, 
1676,  this  town  was  surprised  and  burned,  and  she 
was  among  the  captives.  Her  narrative  tells  of  her 
sufferings  from  hunger,  of  the  death  of  her  child  from 
cold,  and  of  her  sale  by  her  Narragansett  captor  to 
an  Indian  chief,  in  whose  wife  she  found  "a  most 
uncomfortable  mistress,"  though  King  Philip  treated 
her  with  much  courtesy.  For  some  three  months  she 
accompanied  the  Indians  on  their  marches  and  counter- 
marches, suffering  from  hunger,  abuse,  and  insult. 
Finally  she  was  redeemed  for  about  eighty  dollars, 
a  sum  raised  by  several  women  of  Boston,  though  the 
negotiations  were  carried  on  through  a  resident  of 
Concord.  Her  later  life  was  uneventful,  but  the 
story  of  these  three  months,  typical  as  it  was  of  the 
sufferings  of  many,,  sank  deep  into  the  consciousness 
of  the  colonists,  and  gave  to  border  strife  something 
of  the  consecration  of  a  holy  war. 

193 


194  MARY   ROWLANDSON. 


INDIAN   ASSAULT. 

[From  "Narrative  of  the  Captivity  and  Restoura= 
tion  of  Mrs.  Mary  Roulandson."      1682.] 

At  length  they  came  and  beset  our  house,  [at 
Lancaster,  February  10,  1675,  O.  S.]  and  quickly 
it  was  the  dolefulest  day  that  ever  mine  eyes  saw. 
The  house  stood  upon  the  edge  of  a  hill  ;  some  of 
the  Indians  got  behind  the  hill,  others  into  the  barn, 
and  others  behind  anything  that  would  shelter  them  ; 
from  all  which  places  they  shot  against  the  house,  so 
that  the  bullets  seemed  to  fly  like  hail,  and  quickly 
they  wounded  one  man  among  us,  then  another,  then 
a  third.  About  two  hours  (according  to  my  observa- 
tion in  that  amazing  time)  they  had  been  about  the 
house  before  they  prevailed  to  fire  it,  (which  they 
did  with  flax  and  hemp  which  they  brought  out  of 
the  barn,  and  there  being  no  defence  about  the  house, 
only  two  flankers  at  two  opposite  corners,  and  one 
of  them  not  finished)  they  fired  it  once,  and  one 
ventured  out  and  quenched  it,  but  they  quickly  fired 
it  again,  and  that  fx>k.  Now  is  the  dreadful  hour 
come  that  I  have  often  heard  of  (in  time  of  the  war, 
as  it  was  the  case  of  others)  but  now  mine  eyes  see 
it.  Some  in  our  house  were  fighting  for  their  lives, 
others  wallowing  in  blood,  the  house  on  fire  over 
our  heads,  and  the  bloody  heathen  ready  to  knock  us 
on  the  head  if  we  stirred  out.  Now  might  we  hear 
mothers  and  children  crying  out  for  themselves  and 
one  another,  Lord,  what  shall  we  do  !  Then  I  took 
my  children  (and  one  of  my  sisters  hers)  to  go  forth 


INDIAN   ASSAULT.  1 95 

and  leave  the  house  :  but,  as  soon  as  we  came  to  the 
door  and  appeared,  the  Indians  shot  so  thick  that  the 
bullets  rattled  against  the  house  as  if  one  had  taken  a 
handful  of  stones  and  threw  them,  so  that  we  were 
forced  to  give  back.  We  had  six  stout  dogs  belong- 
ing to  our  garrison,  but  none  of  them  would  stir, 
though  at  another  time  if  an  Indian  had  come  to  the 
door,  they  were  ready  to  fly  upon  him  and  tear  him 
down.  The  Lord  hereby  would  make  us  the  more 
to  acknowledge  his  hand,  and  to  see  that  our  help  is 
always  in  him.  But  out  we  must  go,  the  fire  increas- 
ing, and  coming  along  behind  us  roaring,  and  the 
Indians  gaping  before  us  with  their  guns,  spears,  and 
hatchets  to  devour  us.  No  sooner  were  we  out  of 
the  house,  but  my  brother-in-law  (being  before 
wounded  in  defending  the  house,  in  or  near  the 
throat)  fell  down  dead,  whereat  the  Indians  scorn- 
fully shouted  and  hallowed,  and  were  presently  upon 
him,  stripping  off  his  clothes.  The  bullets  flying 
thick,  one  went  through  my  side,  and  the  same  (as 
would  seem)  through  the  bowels  and  hand  of  my 
poor  child  in  my  arms.  One  of  my  elder  sister's 
children  (named  William)  had  then  his  leg  broke, 
which  the  Indians  perceiving  they  knocked  him  on 
the  head.  Thus  were  we  butchered  by  those  merci- 
less heathens,  standing  amazed,  with  the  blood  run- 
ning down  to  our  heels.  My  eldest  sister  being  yet 
in  the  house,  and  seeing  those  woful  sights,  the 
infidels  hauling  mothers  one  way  and  children  another, 
and  some  wallowing  in  their  blood  ;  and  her  eldest 
son  telling  her  that  her  son  William  was  dead,  and 
myself  was  wounded,  she  said,  "and  Lord,  let  me 
die  with  them  ;  "    which  was  no  sooner  said,  but  she 


196  MARY   ROWLANDSON. 

was  struck  with  a  bullet,  and  fell  down  dead  over 
the  threshold.  I  hope  she  is  reaping  the  fruit  of  her 
good  labors,  being  faithful  to  the  service  of  God  in 
her  place.   .    .   . 

SOME    OF   HER    EXPERIENCES. 

[From  the  Same.] 

I  had  often  before  this  said,  that  if  the  Indians 
should  come,  I  should  choose  rather  to  be  killed  by 
them  than  taken  alive,  but  when  it  came  to  the 
trial,  my  mind  changed ;  their  glittering  weapons  so 
daunted  my  spirit,  that  I  chose  rather  to  go  along 
with  those  (as  I  may  say)  ravenous  bears,  than  that 
moment  to  end  my  days.  And  that  I  may  the  bet- 
ter declare  what  happened  to  me  during  that  grievous 
captivity,  I  shall  particularly  speak  of  the  several 
Removes  we  had  up  and  down  the  wilderness. 

THE    FIRST    REMOVE. 

Now  away  we  must  go  with  those  barbarous  crea- 
tures, with  our  bodies  wounded  and  bleeding,  and 
our  hearts  no  less  than  our  bodies.  About  a  mile 
we  went  that  night,  up  upon  a  hill,  within  sight  of 
the  town,  where  we  intended  to  lodge.  There  was 
hard  by  a  vacant  house  (deserted  by  the  English  be- 
fore, for  fear  of  the  Indians)  ;  I  asked  them  whether 
I  might  not  lodge  in  the  house  that  night  ?  to  which 
they  answered,  "What,  will  you  love  Englishmen 
still  ?"      This  was  the  dolefulest  night  that  ever  my 


SOME    EXPERIENCES.  197 

eyes  saw.  Oh,  the  roaring  and  singing,  and  danc- 
ing, and  yelling  of  those  black  creatures  in  the  night, 
which  made  the  place  a  lively  resemblance  of  hell. 
And  miserable  was  the  waste  that  was  there  made, 
of  horses,  cattle,  sheep,  swine,  calves,  lambs,  roast- 
ing pigs,  and  fowls  (which  they  had  plundered  in  the 
town),  some  roasting,  some  lying  and  burning,  and 
some  boiling,  to  feed  our  merciless  enemies ;  who 
were  joyful  enough,  though  wre  were  disconsolate. 
To  add  to  the  dolefulness  of  the  former  day,  and  the 
dismalness  of  the  present  night,  my  thoughts  ran  upon 
my  losses  and  sad,  bereaved  condition.  All  was  gone, 
my  husband  gone  (at  least  separated  from  me,  he 
being  in  the  Bay  ;  and  to  add  to  my  grief,  the  Indians 
told  me  they  would  kill  him  as  he  came  homeward), 
my  children  gone,  my  relations  and  friends  gone,  our 
house  and  home,  and  all  our  comforts  within  door 
and  without,  all  was  gone  (except  my  life),  and  I 
knew  not  but  the  next  moment  that  might  go  too. 

There  remained  nothing  to  me  but  one  poor, 
wounded  babe,  and  it  seemed  at  present  worse  than 
death,  that  it  was  in  such  a  pitiful  condition,  bespeak- 
ing compassion,  and  I  had  no  refreshing  for  it,  nor 
suitable  things  to  revive  it.  Little  do  many  think, 
what  is  the  savageness  and  brutishness  of  this  bar- 
barous enemy,  those  even  that  seem  to  profess  more 
than  others  among  them,  when  the  English  have 
fallen  into  their  hands.    .   .    . 

THE    SECOND    REMOVE. 

But  now  (the  next  morning)  I  must  turn  my 
back  upon  the  town,  and  travel  with  them  into  the 


198  MARY    ROWLANDSON. 

vast  and  desolate  wilderness,  I  know  not  whither. 
It  is  not  my  tongue  or  pen  can  express  the  sorrows 
of  my  heart,  and  bitterness  of  my  spirit,  that  I  had 
at  this  departure  ;  but  God  was  with  me  in  a  won- 
derful manner,  carrying  me  along  and  bearing  up  my 
spirit,  that  it  did  not  quite  fail.  One  of  the  Indians 
carried  my  poor  wounded  babe  upon  a  horse ;  it 
went  moaning  all  along  :  «'  I  shall  die,  I  shall  die." 
I  went  on  foot  after  it,  with  sorrow  that  cannot  be 
expressed.  At  length  I  took  it  off  the  horse,  and 
carried  it  in  my  arms,  till  my  strength  failed  and  I 
fell  down  with  it.  Then  they  set  me  upon  a  horse 
with  my  wounded  child  in  my  lap,  and  there  being 
no  furniture  on  the  horse's  back,  as  we  were  going 
down  a  steep  hill,  we  both  fell  over  the  horse's  head, 
at  which  they,  like  inhuman  creatures,  laughed,  and 
rejoiced  to  see  it,"  though  I  thought  we  should  there 
have  ended  our  days,  overcome  with  so  many  diffi- 
culties. But  the  Lord  renewed  my  strength  still, 
and  carried  me  along,  that  I  might  see  more  of  his 
power,  yea  so  much  that  I  could  never  have  thought 
of,  had  I  not  experienced  it.    .    .    . 

THE    EIGHTH     REMOVE. 

...  As  I  sat  amongst  them,  musing  on  things  past, 
my  son  Joseph  unexpectedly  came  to  me.  We  asked 
of  each  other's  welfare,  bemoaning  our  doleful  condi- 
tion and  the  change  that  had  come  upon  us.  We 
had  husband  and  father,  and  children  and  sisters,  and 
friends  and  relations,  and  house  and  home,  and  many 
comforts  of  this  life  ;  but  now  we  might  say  as  Job, 
*'  Naked   came   I    out  of  my  mother's  womb,   and 


SOME    EXPERIENCES.  1 99 

naked  shall  I  return  :  The  Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord 
hath  taken  away,  blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord." 
I  asked  him  whether  he  would  read  ?  he  told  me  he 
earnestly  desired  it.  I  gave  him  my  Bible,  and  he 
lighted  upon  that  comfortable  scripture,  Psalm  cxviii. 
17,  18  :  "I  shall  not  die,  but  live,  and  declare  the 
works  of  the  Lord  :  The  Lord  hath  chastened  me 
sore,  yet  he  hath  not  given  me  over  unto  death." 
Look  here,  mother  (says  he),  did  you  read  this? 
And  here  I  may  take  occasion  to  mention  one  prin- 
cipal ground  of  my  setting  forth  these  lines,  even  as 
the  Psalmist  says,  to  declare  the  works  of  the  Lord, 
and  his  wonderful  power  in  carying  us  along,  pre- 
serving us  in  the  wilderness  while  under  the  enemy's 
hand,  and  returning  of  us  in  safety  again  ;  and  his 
goodness  in  bringing  to  my  hand  so  many  comfort- 
able and  suitable  scriptures  in  my  distress. 

But  to  return  :  We  traveled  on  till  night,  and  in 
the  morning  we  must  go  over  the  river  to  Philip's 
crew.  When  I  was  in  the  canoe,  I  could  not  but 
be  amazed  at  the  numerous  crew  of  Pagans  that  were 
on  the  bank  on  the  other  side.  When  I  came 
ashore,  they  gathered  all  about  me,  I  sitting  alone  in 
the  midst  :  I  observed  they  asked  one  another  ques- 
tions, and  laughed,  and  rejoiced  over  their  gains  and 
victories.  Then  my  heart  began  to  fail,  and  I  fell  a 
weeping  ;  which  was  the  first  time,  to  my  remem- 
brance, that  I  wept  before  them  ;  although  I  had 
met  with  so  much  affliction,  and  my  heart  was  many 
times  ready  to  break,  yet  could  I  not  shed  one  tear 
,in  their  sight,  but  rather  had  been  all  this  while  in  a 
maze,  and  like  one  astonished  ;  but  now  I  may  say 
as  Psal.  cxxxviL  1  :    "By  the  river  of  Babylon,  there 


200  MARY    ROWLANDSON. 

we  sat  down,  yea,  we  wept,  when  we  remembered 
Zion."  There  one  of  them  asked  me  why  I  wept? 
I  could  hardly  tell  what  to  say  ;  yet  I  answered, 
they  would  kill  me :  No,  said  he,  none  will  hurt 
you.  Then  came  one  of  them,  and  gave  me  two 
spoonfuls  of  meal  (to  comfort  me)  and  another  gave 
me  half  a  pint  of  peas,  which  was  worth  more  than 
many  bushels  at  another  time.  Then  I  went  to  see 
King  Philip  ;  he  bade  me  come  in  and  sit  down,  and 
asked  me  whether  I  would  smoke  it  ?  (a  usual  com- 
pliment now  a  days,  among  the  saints  and  sinners), 
but  this  in  no  way  suited  me.  For  though  I  had 
formerly  used  tobacco,  yet  I  had  left  it  ever  since  I 
was  first  taken.  It  seems  to  be  a  bait  the  devil  lays 
to  make  men  lose  their  precious  time.  I  remember 
with  shame  how  formerly,  when  1  had  taken  two  or 
three  pipes,  I  was  presently  ready  for  another  ;  such 
a  bewitching  thing  it  is  :  but  I  thank  God,  He  has 
now  given  me  power  over  it  ;  surely  there  are  many 
who  may  be  better  employed  than  to  sit  sucking  a 
stinking  tobacco-pipe. 

Now  the  Indians  gathered  their  forces  to  go  against 
Northampton.  Over  night  one  went  about  yelling 
and  hooting  to  give  notice  of  the  design.  Where- 
upon they  went  to  boiling  of  ground-nuts,  and  parch- 
ing corn  (as  many  as  had  it)  for  their  provision: 
and  in  the  morning  away  they  went.  During  my 
abode  in  this  place,  Philip  spake  to  me  to  make  a 
shirt  for  his  boy,  which  I  did  ;  for  which  he  gave 
me  a  shilling.  I  offered  the  money  to  my  mistress, 
but  she  bid  me  keep  it,  and  with  it  I  bought  a  piece 
of  horse-flesh.  Afterward  he  asked  me  to  make  a 
cap  for  his  boy,  for  which  he  invited  me  to  dinner  ; 


SOME   EXPERIENCES.  201 

I  went,  and  he  gave  me  a  pancake,  about  as  big  as 
two  fingers  ;  it  was  made  of  parched  wheat,  beaten 
and  fried  in  bear's  grease,  but  I  thought  I  never 
tasted  pleasanter  meat  in  my  life.  There  was  a 
squaw  who  spake  to  me  to  make  a  shirt  for  her  san- 
nup  ;  for  which  she  gave  me  a  piece  of  beef.  An- 
other asked  me  to  knit  a  pair  of  stockings,  for  which 
she  gave  me  a  quart  of  peas.  I  boiled  my  peas  and 
beef  together,  and  invited  my  master  and  mistress  to 
dinner  ;  but  the  proud  gossip,  because  I  served  them 
both  in  one  dish,  would  eat  nothing,  except  one  bit 
that  he  gave  her  upon  the  point  of  his  knife.  Hear- 
ing that  my  son  was  come  to  this  place,  I  went  to 
see  him,  and  found  him  lying  flat  on  the  ground  ;  I 
asked  him  how  he  could  sleep  so  ?  he  answered  me, 
that  he  was  not  asleep,  but  at  prayer  ;  and  that  he 
lay  so,  that  they  might  not  observe  what  he  was 
doing.  I  pray  God  he  may  remember  these  things 
now  he  is  returned  in  safety.  At  this  place  (the  sun 
now  getting  higher)  what  with  the  beams  and  heat 
of  the  sun,  and  smoke  of  the  wigwams,  I  thought  I 
should  have  been  blinded.  I  could  scarce  discern 
one  wigwam  from  another.  There  was  one  Mary 
Thurston,  of  Medfield,  who,  seeing  how  it  was  with 
me,  lent  me  a  hat  to  wear  ;  but  as  soon  as  I  was 
gone,  the  squaw  that  owned  that  Mary  Thurston 
came  running  after  me,  and  got  it  away  again.  Here 
was  a  squaw  who  gave  me  a  spoonful  of  meal  ;  I 
put  it  in  my  pocket  to  keep  it  safe,  yet  notwithstand- 
ing somebody  stole  it,  but  put  five  Indian  corns  in  the 
room  of  it  ;  which  corns  were  the  greatest  provision 
I  had  in  my  travel  for  one  day. 


202  MARY    ROWLANDSON. 


HER    RETURN. 

.  .  .  About  the  sun's  going  down,  Mr.  Hoar,  my- 
self, and  the  two  Indians,  came  to  Lancaster,  and  a  sol- 
emn sight  it  was  to  me.  There  had  I  lived  many 
comfortable  years  among  my  relations  and  neighbors  ; 
and  now  not  one  Christian  to  be  seen,  or  one  house 
left  standing.  We  went  on  to  a  farm  house  that 
was  yet  standing,  where  we  lay  all  night  ;  and  a 
comfortable  lodging  we  had,  though  nothing  but 
straw  to  lie  on.  The  Lord  preserved  us  in  safety 
that  night,  and  raised  us  up  again  in  the  morning, 
and  carried  us  along,  that  before  noon  we  came  to 
Concord.  Now  was  I  fall  of  joy  and  yet  not  with- 
out sorrow  :  joy,  to  see  such  a  lovely  sight,  so  many 
Christians  together,  and  some  of  them  my  neighbors. 
There  I  met  with  my  brother,  and  brother-in-law, 
who  asked  me  if  I  knew  where  his  wife  was.  Poor 
heart  !  he  had  helped  to  bury  her  and  knew  it  not  ; 
she,  being  shot  down  by  the  house,  was  partly 
burned,  so  that  those  who  were  at  Boston  at  the 
desolation  of  the  town,  came  back  afterward  and 
buried  the  dead,  did  not  know  her.  Yet  I  was  not 
without  sorrow,  to  think  how  many  were  looking 
and  longing,  and  my  own  children  among  the  rest, 
to  enjoy  that  deliverance  that  I  had  now  received  ; 
and  I  did  not  know  whether  ever  I  should  see  them 
again.  Being  recruited  with  food  and  raiment,  we 
went  to  Boston  that  day,  where  I  met  with  my  dear 
husband  ;  but  the  thoughts  of  our  dear  children,  one 
being  dead,  and  the  other  we  could  not  tell  where, 
abated  our  comfort  in  each  other.  .  .  .  About  this  time 
the  council  had  ordered  a  day  of  public  thanksgiving, 


SOME   EXPERIENCES.  203 

though  I  had  still  cause  of  mourning  ;  and  being  un- 
settled in  our  minds  we  thought  we  would  ride  east- 
ward to  see  if  we  could  hear  anything  concerning  our 
children.  As  we  were  riding  along  between  Ipswich 
and  Rowley,  we  met  with  William  Hubbard,  who 
told  us  our  son  Joseph  and  my  sister's  son  were  come 
into  Major  Waldren's  ;  I  asked  him  how  he  knew  it  r 
He  said  the  Major  himself  told  him  so.  So  along 
we  went  till  we  came  to  Newbury  ;  and  their  minis- 
ter being  absent,  they  desired  my  husband  to  preach 
the  thanksgiving  for  them  ;  but  he  was  not  willing  to 
stay  there  that  night,  but  he  would  go  over  to  Salis- 
bury to  hear  father,  and  come  again  in  the  morning, 
which  he  did,  and  preached  there  that  day.  At  night 
when  he  had  done,  one  came  and  told  him  that  his 
daughter  was  come  into  Providence.  Here  was  mercy 
on  both  hands.  Now  we  were  between  them,  the 
one  on  the  east,  and  the  other  on  the  west  ;  our  son 
being  nearest,  we  went  to  him  first,  to  Portsmouth, 
where  we  met  with  him  and  with  the  Major  also, who 
told  us  he  had  done  what  he  could,  but  could  not 
redeem  him  under  seven  pounds,  which  the  good 
people  thereabouts  were  pleased  to  pay.  The  Lord 
reward  the  Major,  and  all  the  rest,  though  unknown 
to  me,  for  their  labor  of  love.  My  sister's  son  was 
redeemed  for  four  pounds,  which  the  council  gave 
order  for  the  payment  of.  Having  now  received  one 
of  our  children,  we  hastened  toward  the  other.  Going 
back  through  Newbury,  my  husband  preached  there 
on  the  Sabbath  Day,  for  which  they  rewarded  him 
manifold. 

On  Monday  we  came  to  Charlestown,  where  we 
heard  that  the  Governor  of  Rhode  Island  had  sent  over 


204  MARY   ROWLANDSON. 

for  our  daughter,  to  take  care  of  her,  being  now  within 
his  jurisdiction  ;  which  should  not  pass  without  our 
acknowledgments.  But  she  being  nearer  Rehoboth 
than  Rhode  Island,  Mr.  Newman  went  over  and  took 
care  of  her,  and  brought  her  to  his  own  house.  And 
the  goodness  of  God  was  admirable  to  us  in  our  low 
estate,  in  that  He  raised  up  compassionate  friends  on 
every  side,  when  we  had  nothing  to  recompense  any 
for  their  love.  The  Indians  were  now  gone  that 
way,  that  it  was  apprehended  dangerous  to  go  to  her  ; 
but  the  cart  which  carried  provision  to  the  English 
army,  being  guarded,  brought  her  with  them  to 
Dorchester,  where  we  received  her  safe  ;  blessed  be 
the  Lord  for  it.  Her  coming  in  was  after  this  man- 
ner :  She  was  traveling  one  day  with  the  Indians, 
with  her  basket  on  her  back  ;  the  company  of  Indians 
were  got  before  her  and  gone  out  of  sight,  all  except 
one  squaw.  She  followed  the  squaw  till  night,  and 
then  both  of  them  lay  down,  having  nothing  over 
them  but  the  heavens,  nor  under  them  but  the  earth. 
Thus  she  traveled  three  days  together,  having  noth- 
ing to  eat  or  drink  but  water  and  green  whortleber- 
ries. At  last  they  came  into  Providence,  where  she 
was  kindly  entertained  by  several  of  that  town.  The 
Indians  often  said  that  I  should  never  have  her  under 
twenty  pounds,  but  now  the  Lord  hath  brought  her 
in  upon  free  cost,  and  given  her  to  me  the  second 
time.  The  Lord  make  us  a  blessing  indeed  to  each 
other.  Thus  hath  the  Lord  brought  me  and  mine 
out  of  the  horrible  pit,  and  hath  set  us  in  the  midst 
of  tender-hearted  and  compassionate  Christians.  'Tis 
the  desire  of  my  soul  that  we  may  walk  worthy  of 
the  mercies  received,  and  which  we  are  receiving. 


URIAN    OAKES. 

Urian  Oakes,  a  New  England  clergyman,  poet, 
Latinist,  and  President  of  Harvard  College,  was  born 
in  England  in  1631,  and  died  in  Cambridge,  Massa- 
chusetts, in  1 68 1.  He  was  brought  to  America  as 
an  infant,  and  showed  great  precosity,  especially  in 
mathematics.  He  was  graduated  at  Harvard  in 
1649,  studied  theology,  and  preached  for  a  time  at 
Roxbury.  Then  he  went  to  England,  where  he 
obtained  a  benefice  under  the  Protectorate,  which  he 
lost  at  the  Restoration.  In  1668  he  was  summoned 
to  take  charge  of  the  church  in  Cambridge,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  assumed  that  post  three  years  later. 
He  succeeded  Dr.  Leonard  Hoar  as  President  of 
Harvard  in  1675,  although  he  was  not  formally 
inaugurated  till  1680.  He  is  especially  noteworthy 
for  the  scholarly  Latinity  of  his  Commencement 
Sermons,  but  was  also  a  gifted  preacher  in  the  ver- 
nacular, and  the  author  of  one  of  the  few  really  good 
poems  of  the  epoch  —  an  elegy  on  his  friend  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Shepard,  who  died  in  1677. 


205 


206  URIAN    OAKES. 


ELEGY    ON    THE    DEATH    OF   THOMAS 
SHEPARD. 

[An  "  Elegy  upon   the  Death  of  the   Reverend 
Mr.  Thomas  Shepard."      1677. J 

Oh  !  that  I  were  a  poet  now  in  grain  ! 

How  would  I  invocate  the  Muses  all 

To  deign  their  presence,  lend  their  flowing  vein  ; 

And  help  to  grace  dear  Shepard' s  funeral  ! 

How  would  I  paint  our  griefs,  and  succors  borrow 
From  art  and  fancy,  to  limn  out  our  sorrow  ! 

Now  could  I  wish  (if  wishing  would  obtain) 

The  sprightliest  efforts  of  poetic  rage, 

To  vent  my  griefs,  make  others  feel  my  pain, 

For  this  loss  of  the  glory  of  our  age. 
Here  is  a  subject  for  the  loftiest  verse 
That  ever  waited  on  the  bravest  hearse. 

And  could  my  pen  ingeniously  distill 
The  purest  spirits  of  a  sparkling  wit 
In  rare  conceits,  the  quintessence  of  skill 
In  elegiac  strains  ;  none  like  to  it  : 

I  should  think  all  too  little  to  condole 

The  fatal  loss  (to  us)  of  such  a  soul. 

Could  I  take  highest  flights  of  fancy,  soar 
Aloft  ;   if  wit's  monopoly  were  mine  ; 
All  would  be  much  too  low,  too  light,  too  poor. 
To  pay  due  tribute  to  this  great  divine. 


AN    ELEGY.  20J 

Ah  !   wit  avails  not,  when  th'  heart's  like  to  break, 
Great  griefs  are  tongue-tied,  when  the  lesser  speak. 


Oh  !  that  my  head  were  waters,  and  mine  eyes 
A  flowing  spring  of  tears,  still  issuing  forth 
In  streams  of  bitterness,  to  solemnize 
The  obits  of  this  man  of  matchless  worth  ! 
Next  to  the  tears  our  sins  do  need  and  crave, 
I  would  bestow  my  tears  on  Shepard's  grave. 

Not  that  he  needs  our  tears  :   for  he  hath  dropt 
His  measure  full  ;   not  one  tear  more  shall  fall 
Into  God's  bottle  from  his  eyes  ;   Death  stopt 
That  water-course,  his  sorrows  ending  all. 

He  fears,  he  cares,  he  sighs,  he  weeps  no  more  : 
He's  past  all  storms,  arriv'd  at  th'  wished  shore. 

Dear  Shepard  !   could  we  reach  so  high  a  strain 
Of  pure  seraphic  love,  as  to  divest 
Ourselves,  and  love,  of  self  respects,  thy  gain 
Would  joy  us,  though  it  cross  our  interest. 

Then  would  we  silence  all  complaints  with  this, 
Our  dearest  friend  is  doubtless  gone  to  bliss. 

Ah  !  but  the  lesson's  hard,  thus  to  deny 
Our  own  dear  selves,  to  part  with  such  a  loan 
Of  Heaven  (in  time  of  such  necessity) 
And  love  thy  comforts  better  than  our  own. 
Then  let  us  moan  our  loss,  adjourn  our  glee, 
Till  we  come  thither  to  rejoice  with  thee. 


208  URIAN    OAKES. 

As  when  some  formidable  comet's  blaze, 
As  when  portentous  prodigies  appear, 
Poor  mortals  with  amazement  stand  and  gaze, 
With  hearts  affrighted,  and  with  trembling  fear  : 
So  are  we  all  amazed  at  this  blow, 
Sadly  portending  some  approaching  woe. 

We  shall  not  summon  bold  astrologers 
To  tell  us  what  the  stars  say  in  the  case, 
(Those  cousin-germans  to  black  conjurers), 
We  have  a  sacred  Oracle  that  says, 

When  th'  righteous  perish,  men  of  mercy  go, 
-    It  is  a  sure  presage  of  coming  wo. 

He  was  (ah,  woful  word  !   to  say  he  was) 
Our  wrestling  Israel,  second  unto  none, 
The  man  that  stood  i'  th'  gap,  to  keep  the  pass, 
To  stop  the  troops  of  judgments  rushing  on. 
This  man  the  honor  had  to  hold  the  hand 
Of  an  incensed  God  against  our  Land. 


Oh  for  the  raptures,  transports,  inspirations 
Of  Israel's  Singer,  when' his  Jonathan's  fall 
So  tun'd  his  mourning  harp  !   what  Lamentations 
Then  would  I  make  for  Shepard's  funeral  ! 
How  truly  can  I  say,  as  well  as  he, 
"  My  dearest  brother,  I  am  distress' d  for  thee.1 

How  lovely,  worthy,  peerless,  in  my  view  ! 
How  precious,  pleasant  hast  thou  been  to  me  ! 


AN    ELEGY.  209 

How  learned,  prudent,  pious,  grave,  and  true  ! 

And  what  a  faithful  friend  !   who  like  to  thee! 
Mine  eye's  desire  is  vanish' d  :   who  can  tell 
Where  lives  my  dearest  Shepard's  parallel? 

'Tis  strange  to  think  :   but  we  may  well  believe, 
That  not  a  few,  of  different  persuasions 
From  this  great  worthy,  do  now  truely  grieve 
1'  th'  mourning  crowd,  and  join  their  lamentations. 
Such  powers  magnetic  had  he  to  draw  to  him 
The  very  hearts,  and  souls,  of  all  that  knew  him  ! 

Art,  nature,  grace,  in  him  were  all  combin'd 
To  shew  the  world  a  matchless  paragon  : 
In  whom  of  radiant  virtues  no  less  shin'd 
Than  a  whole  constellation  :  but  he's  gone  ! 
He's  gone  alas  !   Down  in  the  dust  must  lye 
As  much  of  this  rare  person  as  could  die. 

*  *  *  %.  ^  ^i  5fc 

Great  was  the  father,  once  a  glorious  light 
Among  us,  famous  to  an  high  degree  : 
Great  was  this  son  :   indeed  (to  do  him  right) 
As  great  and  good  (to  say  no  more)  as  he. 
A  double  portion  of  his  father's  spirit 
Did  this  (his  eldest)  son,  through  grace,  inherit. 

His  look  commanded  reverence  and  awe, 

Though  mild  and  amiable,  not  austere  : 

Well-humor'd  was  he  as  I  ever  saw 

And  rul'd  by  love  and  wisdom,  more  than  fear, 
The  Muses,  and  the  Graces  too,  conspir'd 
To  set  forth  this  rare  piece,  to  be  admir'd, 


210  URIAN    OAKES. 

He  govern' d  well  the  tongue  (that  busy  thing, 

Unruly,  lawless  and  pragmatical), 

Gravely  reserv'd,  in  speech  not  lavishing, 

Neither  too  sparing,  nor  too  liberal. 

His  words  were  few,  well-season' d,  wisely  weigh' d, 
And  in  his  tongue  the  law  of  kindness  sway'd. 

Learned  he  was  beyond  the  common  size, 
Befriended  much  by  nature  in  his  wit, 
And  temper  (sweet,  sedate,  ingenious,  wise), 
And  (which  crown' d  all)  he  was  Heaven's  favourite; 
On  whom  the  God  of  all  Grace  did  command, 
And  show'r  down  blessings  with  a  liberal  hand. 

Wise  he,  not  wily,  was  ;  grave,  not  morose  ; 

Not  stiff,  but  steady  ;   serious,  but  not  sour  ; 

Concern' d  for  all,  as  if  he  had  no  Foes  ; 

(Strange  if  he  had  !)  and  would  not  waste  an  hour. 
Thoughtful  and  active  for  the  common  good  : 
And  yet  his  own  place  wisely  understood. 


Large  was  his  heart,  to  spend  without  regret, 
Rejoicing  to  do  good  :  not  like  those  moles 
That  root  i'  th'  earth,  or  roam  abroad,  to  get 
All  for  themselves  (those  sorry,  narrow  souls  !) 
But  he,  like  th'  sun  (i'  th'  center,  as  some  say) 
DifFus'd  his  rays  of  goodness  every  way. 

He  breath' d  love,  and  pursu'd  peace  in  his  day, 
As  if  his  soul  were  made  of  harmony  : 
Scarce  ever  more  of  goodness  crowded  lay 
In  such  a  piece  of  frail  mortality. 


AN    ELEGY.  211 

Sure  Father  Wilson's  genuine  son  was  he, 
New-England's  Paul  had  such  a  Timothy. 

No  slave  to  th'  world's  grand  idols  ;  but  he  flew 
At  fairer  quarries,  without  stooping  down 
To  sublunary  prey  :  his  great  soul  knew 
Ambition  none,  but  of  the  heavenly  crown  : 

Now  he  hath  won  it,  and  shall  wear  't  with  honor 
Adoring  grace,  and  God  in  Christ,  the  donor. 

A  friend  to  truth,  a  constant  foe  to  error, 
Powerful  i'  th'  pulpit,  and  sweet  in  converse, 
To  weak  ones  gentle,  to  th'  profane  a  terror,  — 
Who  can  his  virtues  and  good  works  rehearse  ? 
The  Scripture —  Bishop's  character  read  o're, 
Say  this  was  Shepard's  :  what  need  I  say  more  ; 


I  say  no  more  ;  let  them  that  can  declare 
His  rich  and  rare  endowments,  paint  this  sun 
With  all  its  dazzling  rays  :  but  I  despair, 
Hopeless  by  any  hand  to  see  it  done. 

They  that  can  Shepard's  goodness  well  display 
Must  be  as  good  as  he  ;  but  who  are  they  ? 


See  where  our  Sister  Charlestown  sits  and  moans  ! 

Poor  widow' d  Charlestown  !   all  in  dust,  in  tears  ! 

Mark  how  she  wrings  her  hands  !  hear  how  she  groans  ! 

See  how  she  weeps  !  what  sorrow  like  to  hers  ! 
Charlestown,  that  might  for  joy  compare  of  late 
With  all  about  her,  now  looks  desolate. 


212  URIAN    OAKES. 

As  you  have  seen  some  pale,  wan,  ghastly  look, 
When  grisly  death,  that  will  not  be  said  nay, 
Hath  seiz'd  all  for  itself,  possession  took, 
And  turn'd  the  soul  out  of  its  house  of  clay  : 

So  visag'd  is  poor  Charlestown  at  this  day  ; 

Shepard,  her  very  soul,  is  torn  away. 

Cambridge  groans  under  this  so  heavy  cross, 

And  sympathizes  with  her  Sister  dear  ; 

Renews  her  griefs  afresh  for  her  old  loss 

Of  her  own  Shepard,  and  drops  many  a  tear. 

Cambridge  and  Charlestown  now  joint  mourners  are, 
And  this  tremendous  loss  between  them  share. 

Must  Learning's  friend  (ah  !  worth  us  all)  go  thus  ? 

That  great  support  to  Harvard's  nursery  ! 

Our  Fellow  (that  no  fellow  had  with  us) 

Is  gone  to  Heaven's  great  University. 

Ours  now  indeed' s  a  lifeless  Corporation, 
The  soul  is  fled,  that  gave  it  animation  ! 

Poor  Harvard's  sons  are  in  their  mourning  dress  : 
Their  sure  friend's  gone  !  their  hearts  have  put  on 

mourning  ; 
Within  their  walls  are  sighs,  tears,  pensiveness  ; 
Their  new  foundations  dread  an  overturning. 

Harvard  !  where' s  such  a  fast  friend  left  to  thee  ? 

Unless  thy  great  friend  Leveret,  it  be. 

We  must  not  with  our  greatest  Sovereign  strive, 
Who  dare  find  fault  with  him  that  is  most  high  ? 
That  hath  an  absolute  prerogative. 
And  doth  his  pleasure  :  none  may  ask  him,  why  ? 


AN    ELEGY.  21  3 

We're  clay-lumps,  dust-heaps,  nothings  in  his  sight  : 
The  Judge  of  all  the  earth  doth  always  right. 

Ah  !  could  not  prayers  and  tears  prevail  with  God  ! 

Was  there  no  warding  off  that  dreadful  blow  ! 

And  was  there  no  averting  of  that  rod  ! 

Must  Shepard  die  !  and  that  good  angel  go  ! 
Alas  !   Our  heinous  sins   (more  than  our  hairs) 
It  seems,  were  louder,  and  out-cried  our  prayers. 

See  what  our  sins  have  done  !   what  ruins  wrought 

And  how  they  have  pluck' d  out  our  very  eyes  ! 

Our  sins  have  slain  our  Shepard  !  we  have  bought, 

And  dearly  paid  for,  our  enormities. 

Ah,  cursed  sins  !  that  strike  at  God  and  kill 
His  servants,  and  the  blood  of  prophets  spill. 

As  you  would  loath  the  sword  that's  warm  and  red, 
As  you  would  hate  the  hands  that  are  embrued 
P  th'  heart'  s-blood  of  your  dearest  friends  :  so  dread, 
And  hate  your  sins  ;   Oh  !  let  them  be  pursued  : 

Revenges  take  on  bloody  sins  :   for  there's 

No  refuge-city  for  these  murtherers. 

In  vain  we  build  the  prophets'  sepulchers, 

In  vain  bedew  their  tombs  with  tears,  when  dead  ; 

In  vain  bewail  the  deaths  of  ministers, 

Whilst  prophet-killing  sins  are  harbored. 

Those  that  these  murtherous  traitors  favor,  hide  ; 

Are  with  the  blood  of  Prophets  deeply  dy'd. 

New- England  !    know    thy    heart-plague  :    feel    this 
blow  ; 


214  URIAN  OAKES. 

A  blow  that  sorely  wounds  both  head  and  heart, 
A  blow  that  reaches  all,  both  high  and  low, 
A  blow  that  may  be  felt  in  every  part. 

Mourn  that  this  great  man's  fallen  in  Israel  : 
Let  it  be  said,  '*  with  him  New-England  fell  !  " 

Farewell,  dear  Shepard  !  Thou  art  gone  before, 
Made  free  of  Heaven,   where  thou  shalr"sing  loud 

hymns 
Of  high  triumphant  praises  ever  more, 
In  the  sweet  quire  of  saints  and  seraphims. 

Lord  !  look  on  us  here,  clogg'd  with  sin  and  clay, 
And  we,  through  grace,  shall  be  as  happy  as  they. 

My  dearest,  inmost,  bosom-friend  is  gone  ! 
Gone  is  my  sweet  companion,  soul's  delight  ! 
Now  in  an  hud'ling  crowd  I'm  all  alone, 
And  almost  could  bid  all  the  world  "  Goodnight." 

Blest  be  my  Rock  !  God  lives  :   O  let  him  be, 

As  He  is  All,  so  All  in  All  to  me  ! 


INCREASE    MATHER. 

Of  the  noted  families  of  New  England  clergymen, 
that  of  the  Mathers  is  probably  the  most  distinguished. 
The  founder  of  the  family,  Richard  Mather,  was 
born  in  Lancashire,  England,  in  I  596,  and  died  in 
Dorchester,  Massachusetts,  April  22,  1669.  He 
was  a  strong  man  and  a  typical  clergyman,  who 
brought  up  six  sons,  four  of  whom  were  ministers. 
We  have  already  learned  something  of  his  labors  in 
connection  with  the  Bay  Psalm  Book.  Of  his  sons, 
the  youngest,  Increase,  who  was  born  June  21,  1639, 
at  Dorchester,  and  died  August  23,  1723,  at  Boston, 
was  the  most  famous.  A  passage  to  be  given  shortly 
from  the  biography  of  him  written  by  his  still  more 
famous  son,  Cotton,  will  explain  how  he  came  by 
his  curious  name,  and  will  present  some  of  his  most 
marked  characteristics.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  in 
1656,  and  then  at  the  request  of  his  older  brothers, 
Samuel  and  Nathaniel,  who  were  preachers  in  Ire- 
land and  England  respectively,  he  crossed  the 
Atlantic,  took  his  second  degree  at  Trinity  College, 
Dublin,  and  received  a  ministerial  charge  in  Devon- 
shire. A  little  later  he  was  made  chaplain  of  a 
garrison  in  Guernsey,  but  after  the  Restoration  re- 
turned to  Massachusetts,  and,  in  1664,  became 
pastor  of  the  new  North  Church  in  Boston,  a  posi- 
tion which  he  held  until   his  death.      Here  he  soon 

2I5 


2l6  INCREASE    MATHER. 

established  his  reputation,  not  merely  as  a  great 
preacher,  but  as   a  great  man. 

Only  a  few  important  facts  from  his  crowded 
biography  can  be  given  here.  He  opposed  every 
liberal  movement  among  the  New  England  clergy, 
but  toward  the  close  of  his  life  wras  doomed  to  see 
many  innovations  prevail.  He  took  part  in  the 
famous  persecution  of  the  witches,  but  was  on  the 
whole  conservative,  more  so  than  his  son  Cotton. 
In  1 68 1  he  was  elected  President  of  Harvard  in  suc- 
cession to  Uriari  Oakes,  but  his  church  not  being 
willing  to  give  him  up,  he  resigned  the  office.  Four 
years  latter,  another  vacancy  occurring,  an  arrange- 
ment was  made  by  which  he  could  still  reside  in 
Boston,  and  he  became  President,  holding  the  office 
until  1 70 1,  when  his  less  orthodox  opponents  man- 
aged by  shrewd  legislation  to  secure  his  retirement. 
His  most  important  services,  however,  were  not  as 
clergyman,  voluminous  author,  and  college  president, 
but  as  agent  for  Massachusetts  to  King  William  III. 
for  the  restoration  of  the  Charter.  This  restoration 
could  not  be  accomplished,  but  he  secured  a  new 
Charter  which  lasted  to  the  Revolution,  and  he  won 
the  confidence  of  the  King  and  of  his  fellow-citizens. 
In  his  last  years,  as  we  have  noted,  he  found  his  con- 
servative influence  waning,  but  as  our  extract  from 
his  son's  book  will  show,  he  died  as  full  of  honors 
as  of  years. 

Throughout  his  life  Increase  Mather  kept  the 
printing-press  busy  ;  the  titles  of  his  works  are  said 
to  amount  to  no  less  than  one  hundred  and  thirty-six. 
Of  course  most  of  these  productions  were  sermons, 
but  not  a  few  of  them  were  important  books  written 


THE   WRITING   OF    HISTORY.         21 J 

in  English  of  considerable  vigor  and  displaying  vast 
learning.  Among  the  most  noteworthy  are  A  His- 
tory of  the  War  with  the  Indians  (1676),  A  Rela- 
tion of  Troubles  of  New  England  from  the  Indians 
(1677),  An  Essay  for  the  Recording  of  Illustrious 
Providences  (1684),  and  Cases  of  Conscience  (1693). 
The  two  latter  works  may  be  obtained  in  the  * '  Li- 
brary of  Old  Authors"  ;  new  editions  of  the  two 
former  were  brought  out  by  Samuel  G.  Drake  in 
1862  and  1864.  A  good  account  of  Increase 
Mather's  life  is  given  in  Professor  Barrett  Wendell's 
biography  of  Cotton  Mather. 


CONCERNING    THE    WRITING    OF    HIS- 
TORY. 

[From  the  Preface  to  "A  Brief  History  of 
the  War  with  the  Indians  in  New  England." 
1676.] 

.  .  .  And  I  hope  that  in  one  thing  (though  it 
may  be  in  little  else)  I  have  performed  the  part  of  an 
historian,  viz.  in  endeavoring  to  relate  things  truly 
and  impartially,  and  doing  the  best  I  could  that  I 
might  not  lead  the  reader  into  a  mistake.  History 
is  indeed  in  itself  a  profitable  study.  Learned  men 
know  that  Polybius,  and  the  great  Philosopher  call  it, 
AA.?7#ii/a)TaT77V  Traiheiav  /cat  xPV(TLfJLr]v  yvfJivaartxiv. 
And  there  is  Holy  Scripture  to  encourage  a  work  of 
this  nature  ;  For  what  was  the  Book  of  the  Wars  of 
the  Lord?  Num.  21.  14.  And  that  book  ofjasher, 
which  we  read  of  in  Joshua  and  in  Samuel  ?     Yea, 


2l8  INCREASE    MATHER. 

the  book  of  the  Chronicles,  mentioned  in  the  book 
of  Kings  (for  we  find  not  some  of  those  things  re- 
ferred unto  in  the  canonical  book  of  Chronicles. ) 
What  were  these  books  but  the  faithful  records  of  the 
providential  dispensations  of  God  in  the  days  of  old  ? 
Yea,  and  it  is  proper  for  the  ministers  of  God,  to 
engage  themselves  in  services  of  this  nature  ;  Witness 
the  History  or  Commentary  ETYTb  of  the  Prophet  Iddo, 
2  Chro.  13.  22.  Whether  my  defective  manner  of 
management  in  this  history  renders  it  unprofitable,  I 
know  not.  Considering  the  other  employments  that 
are  always  upon  me,  together  with  my  personal  in- 
abilities, I  have  cause  to  suspect  it  may  be  so  in  a 
great  measure.  If  any  one  shall  hereby  be  incited 
to  do  better,  I  hope  I  shall  rather  thank  than  envy 
him,  7r\c6v(nv  Ipyov  d/xetvov.  And  I  earnestly  wish 
that  some  effectual  course  may  be  taken  (before  it  be 
too  late)  that  a  just  History  of  New  England  be 
written  and  published  to  the  world.  That  is  a  thing 
that  hath  often  been  spoken  of,  but  was  never  done 
to  this  day,  and  yet  the  longer  it  is  deferred,  the  more 
difficulty  will  there  be  in  effecting  of  it. 

THE    HAND    OF   GOD. 

[From  <(  An  Essay  for  the  Recording  of  Illus- 
trious Providences."      1684.] 

It  hath  been  by  many  observed,  that  men  addicted 
to  horrid  cursings  and  execrations  have  pulled  down 
the  imprecated  vengeance  of  Heaven  upon  themselves. 
Sundry  very  awful  examples  of  this  kind  have  lately 
happened  :   I  shall  here  mention  one  or  two. 


THE    HAND   OF   GOD.  219 

The  hand  of  God  was  very  remarkable  in  that 
which  came  to  pass  in  the  Narragansett  country  in 
New  England,  not  many  weeks  since  ;  for  I  have 
good  information,  that  on  August  28,  1683,  a  man 
there  (viz.  Samuel  Wilson)  having  caused  his  dog  to 
mischief  his  neighbor's  cattle  was  blamed  for  his  so 
doing.  He  denied  the  fact  with  imprecations,  wish- 
ing that  he  might  never  stir  from  that  place  if  he  had 
so  done.  His  neighbor  being  troubled  at  his  denying 
the  truth,  reproved  him,  and  told  him  he  did  very  ill 
to  deny  what  his  conscience  knew  to  be  truth.  The 
atheist  thereupon  used  the  name  of  God  in  his  impre- 
cations, saying,  "  He  wished  to  God  he  might  never 
stir  out  of  that  place,  if  he  had  done  that  which  he 
was  charged  with."  The  words  were  scarce  out  of 
his  mouth  before  he  sunk  down  dead,  and  never  stirred 
more  ;  a  son-in-law  of  his  standing  by  and  catching 
him  as  he  fell  to  the  ground. 

A  thing  not  unlike  this  happened  (though  not  in 
New  England  yet)  in  America,  about  a  year  ago  ; 
for  in  September,  1682,  a  man  at  the  Isle  of  Provi- 
dence, belonging  to  a  vessel,  whereof  one  Wollery 
was  master,  being  charged  with  some  deceit  in  a  mat- 
ter that  had  been  committed  to  him,  in  order  to  his 
own  vindication,  horridly  wished  "that  the  devil 
might  put  out  his  eyes  if  he  had  done  as  was  sus- 
pected concerning  him."  That  very  night  a  rheum 
fell  into  his  eyes,  so  that  within  a  few  days  he  became 
stark  blind.  His  company  being  astonished  at  the 
Divine  hand  which  thus  conspicuously  and  signally 
appeared,  put  him  ashore  at  Providence,  and  left  him 
there.  A  physician  being  desired  to  undertake  his 
cure,  hearing  how  he  came  to  lose  his  sight,  refused 


220  INCREASE    MATHER. 

to  meddle  with  him.  This  account  I  lately  received 
from  credible  persons,  who  knew  and  have  often  seen 
the  man  whom  the  devil  (according  to  his  own  wicked 
wish)  made  blind,  through  the  dreadful  and  righteou? 
judgment  of  God. 


PREPARATION    FOR  JUDGMENT. 

[From  "The  Greatest  Sinners  exhorted  and 
encouraged  to  come  to  christ,  and  that 
now  without  delaying."      i  686.  j 

Consider.  3.  That  as  death  leaveth  a  man,  so 
judgment  will  find  him.  All  the  time  which  men 
have  to  prepare  for  judgment  is  only  whilst  they  are 
in  this  world.  There  is  no  work  in  the  grave  whither 
thou  goest.  For  there  is  a  particular  judgment  passeth 
upon  every  soul  at  death.  Heb.  9,  27.  It  is 
appointed  unto  men  once  to  die,  but  after  this  the 
judgment.  When  once  a  man's  soul  is  out  of  his 
body,  it  appears  before  the  judge  of  all,  and  is  sen- 
tenced either  to  life  or  death  forever;  which  particu- 
lar judgment  will  be  published  at  the  Last  Day.  If 
death  find  a  man  unprepared,  so  will  judgment. 
Therefore  it  highly  concerns  every  man  to  prepare 
now.  Miserable  sinner,  thou  knowest  not  how  soon 
death  may  come  upon  thee  like  an  armed  man,  and 
drag  thy  soul  before  the  judgment  seat  of  GOD  ! 
It  may  be  this  night  it  will  be  so.  Death  sometimes 
giveth  no  warning  before  it  comes.  Remember  that 
Scripture,  Amos  4.  11.  I  have  overthrown  some 
of  you,    as  God  overthrew  Sodom  and   Gomorrah. 


PREPARATION   FOR   JUDGMENT.       221 

And  how  was  that  ?  Verily  by  thunder  and  light- 
ning from  Heaven.  And  has  it  not  been  so  amongst 
us  also  ?  There  have  been  (to  my  observation)  about 
twenty  persons  in  this  land,  who  have  at  several  times 
and  places  been  killed  with  lightning,  some  such  very 
lately.  Therefore  if  God  fell  upon  them  and  struck 
them  dead  in  a  moment,  how  dost  thou  know  but 
that  it  may  be  so  with  thee  ?  If  thou  continuest 
unprepared  for  death  and  judgment,  thou  knowest 
not  but  that  the  next  thunderstorm  that  cometh  may 
prove  to  thy  soul,  as  snares  and  fire,  and  brimstone, 
and  an  horrible  tempest. 

Consider^  4.  As  judgment  shall  find  a  man  so 
it  will  be  with  him  to  all  eternity.  Eternity  will 
fasten  its  iron  teeth  upon  thy  soul  then.,  Hence  the 
Scripture  speaketh  of  Eternal  Judgment,  Heb.  6C  2. 
because  men  shall  then  be  judged  to  an  eternal  estate 
either  of  weal  or  of  woe.  The  wicked  shall  then 
go  away  into  everlasting  punishment,  and  the  right- 
eous into  life  eternal.  If  judgment  find  a  man  in  a 
good  estate  he  shall  be  for  ever  with  the  Lord,  he  shall 
be  where  there  is  fulness  of  joy,  and  pleasures  for 
evermore.  But  if  judgment  find  him  in  his  sins,  he 
shall  be  cast  into  a  dungeon  out  of  which  he  shall 
never  come,  even  into  blackness  of  darkness  for  ever. 
O  think  of  this  one  word,  If  judgment  find  thee  in 
thy  sins  ;  after  thou  hast  been  in  misery  as  many  mill- 
ions of  ages  as  there  have  been  days  and  minutes 
since  the  world  began,  thou  art  no  nearer  to  an  end 
of  thy  misery  than  thou  wast  the  first  hour  that  the 
Son  of  God  passed  on  thee  a  sentence  of  eternal  death. 


222  INCREASE    MATHER. 

STRANGE    CERTAINTIES     FROM    SCRIP- 
TURE  AND    HISTORY. 

[From   "  Cases  of   Conscience  concerning  Evil 
Spirits."      1693.] 

Ar[gument]  4.  It  is  certain  both  from  Scripture 
and  history,  that  magicians  by  their  enchantments  and 
hellish  conjurations  may  cause  a  false  representation 
of  persons  and  things.  An  enchanted  eye  shall  see 
such  things  as  others  cannot  discern  ;  it  is  a  thing  too 
well  known  to  be  denied,  that  some  by  rubbing  their 
eyes  with  a  bewitched  water  have  immediately  there- 
upon seen  that  which  others  could  not  discern  ;  and 
there  are  persons  in  the  world,  who  have  a  strange 
spectral  sight.  Mr.  Glanvil  speaks  of  a  Dutchman 
that  could  see  ghosts  which  others  could  perceive 
nothing  of.  There  are  in  Spain  a  sort  of  men  whom 
they  call  Zahurs,  these  can  see  into  the  bowels  of  the 
earth  ;  they  are  able  to  discover  minerals  and  hidden 
treasures  ;  nevertheless,  they  have  their  extraordinary 
sight  only  on  Tuesdays  and  Fridays,  and  not  on  the 
other  days  of  the  week.  Delrio  saith,  that  when  he 
was  at  Madrid,  Anno  Dom.  1575,  he  saw  some  of 
these  strange  sighted  creatures.  Mr.  George  Sin- 
clare,  in  his  book  entituled  "  Satan's  Invisible  World 
Discovered,"  has  these  words,  "  I  am  undoubtedly 
informed,  that  men  and  women  in  the  High-lands 
can  discern  fatality  approaching  others,  by  seeing 
them  in  the  water  or  with  winding  sheets  about  them. 
And  that  others  can  lecture  in  a  sheep's  shoulder- 
bone  a  death  within   the  parish  seven  or  eight  days 


STRANGE   CERTAINTIES. 


223 


before  it  come.  It  is  not  improbable  but  that  such  a 
preternatural  knowledge  comes  first  by  a  compact 
with  the  devil,  and  is  derived  downward  by  succes- 
sion to  their  posterity.  Many  such  I  suppose  are 
innocent,  and  have  this  sight  against  their  will  and 
inclination."  Thus  Mr.  Sinclare.  1  concur  with 
his  supposal,  that  such  knowledge  is  originally  from 
Satan,  and  perhaps  the  effect  of  some  old  enchant- 
ment. There  are  some  at  this  day  in  the  world, 
that  if  they  come  into  a  house  where  one  of  the 
family  will  die  within  a  fortnight,  the  smell  of  a 
dead  corpse  offends  them  to  such  a  degree,  as  that 
they  cannot  stay  in  that  house.  It  is  reported  that 
near  unto  the  Abbey  of  Maurice  in  Burgundy  there  is 
a  fish-pond  in  which  are  fishes  put  according  to  the 
number  of  the  monks  of  that  place  ;  if  any  one  of 
them  happened  to  be  sick,  there  is  a  fish  seen  to 
float  and  swim  above  water  half  dead,  and  if  the 
monk  shall  die,  the  fish  a  few  days  before  dieth.  In 
some  parts  in  Wales  death-lights  or  corpse  candles 
(as  they  call  them)  are  seen  in  the  night  time  going 
from  the  house  where  some  body  will  shortly  die, 
and  passing  in  to  the  churchyard.  Of  this,  my  hon- 
ored and  never  to  be  forgotten  friend,  Mr.  Richard 
Baxter,  has  given  an  account  in  his  book  about  witch- 
crafts lately  published  :  what  to  make  of  such  things, 
except  they  be  the  effect  of  some  old  enchantment,  I 
know  not ;  nor  what  natural  reason  to  assign  for  that 
which  I  find  amongst  the  Observations  of  the  Im- 
perial Academy  for  the  year  1687,  viz.  that  in  an 
orchard  where  are  choice  Damascen  plums,  the 
master  of  the  family  being  sick  of  a  quartan  ague, 
whilst  he  continued  very  ill,   four  of  his  plum-trees 


224  INCREASE    MATHER. 

instead  of  Damascens  brought  forth  a  vile  sort  of 
yellow  plums  :  but  recovering  health,  the  next  year 
the  tree  did  (as  formerly)  bear  Damascens  again; 
but  when  after  that  he  fell  into  a  fatal  dropsy,  on 
those  trees  were  seen  not  Damascens,  but  another 
sort  of  fruit.  The  same  author  gives  instances  of 
which  he  had  the  certain  knowledge,  concerning 
apple-trees  and  pear-trees,  that  the  fruit  of  them 
would  on  a  sudden  wither  as  if  they  had  been  baked 
in  an  oven,  when  the  owners  of  them  were  mortally 
sick.  It  is  no  less  strange  that  in  the  illustrious 
Electoral  House  of  Brandenburg  before  the  death  of 
some  one  of  the  family  feminine  spectres  appeared. 
And  often  in  the  houses  of  great  men,  voices  and 
visions  from  the  invisible  world  have  been  the  har- 
bingers of  death.  When  any  heir  in  the  worshipful 
family  of  the  Breertons  in  Cheshire  is  near  his  death, 
there  are  seen  in  a  pool  adjoining,  bodies  of  trees 
swimming  for  certain  days  together,  on  which  learned 
Camden  has  this  note,  'f  These  and  such  like  things 
are  done  either  by  the  holy  tutelar  angels  of  men,  or 
else  by  the  devils,  who  by  God's  permission  mightily 
show  their  power  in  this  inferior  world."  As  for 
Mr.  Sinclare's  notion  that  some  persons  may  have  a 
second  sight  (as  'tis  termed),  and  yet  be  themselves 
innocent,  I  am  satisfied  that  he  judgeth  right  ;  for 
this  is  common  amongst  the  Laplanders,  who  are 
horribly  addicted  to  magical  incantations.  They 
bequeath  their  daemons  to  their  children  as  a  legacy, 
by  whom  they  are  often  assisted  (like  bewitched 
persons  as  they  are)  to  see  and  do  things  beyond 
the  power  of  nature.  An  historian  who  deserves 
credit  relates,   that  a  certain   Laplander   gave  him  a 


STRANGE    CERTAINTIES.  225 

true  and  particular  account  of  what  had  happened  to 
him  in  his  journey  to  Lapland  ;  and  further  com- 
plained to  him  with  tears,  that  things  at  great  distance 
were  represented  to  him,  and  how  much  he  desired 
to  be  delivered  from  that  diabolical  sight,  but  could 
not  ;  this  doubtless  was  caused  by  some  enchantment. 
But  to  proceed  to  what  I  intend  ;  the  eyes  of  per- 
sons, by  reason  of  enchanting  charms,  may  not  only 
see  what  others  do  not,  but  be  under  such  power  of 
fascination,  as  that  things  which  are  not  shall  appear 
to  them  as  real.  The  apostle  speaks  of  bewitched 
eyes,  Gal.  iii.  1,  and  we  know  from  Scripture,  that 
the  imaginations  of  men  have  by  enchantments  been 
imposed  upon  ;  and  histories  abound  with  very  strange 
instances  of  this  nature.  The  old  witch  Circe  by  an 
enchanted  cup  caused  Ulysses  his  companions  to  im- 
agine themselves  to  be  turned  into  swine  ;  and  how 
many  witches  have  been  themselves  so  bewitched  by 
the  devil,  as  really  to  believe  that  they  were  trans- 
formed into  wolves,  or  dogs,  or  cats.  It  is  reported 
of  Simon  Magus,  that  by  his  sorceries  he  would  so 
impose  on  the  imaginations  of  people,  as  that  they 
thought-  he  had  really  changed  himself  into  another 
sort  of  creature.  Apollonius  of  Tyana  could  outdo 
Simon  with  his  magic.  The  great  Bohemian  con- 
jurer Zyto  by  his  enchantments  caused  certain  per- 
sons whom  he  had  a  mind  to  try  his  art  upon,  to 
imagine  that  their  hands  were  turned  into  the  feet  of 
an  ox,  or  into  the  hoofs  of  a  horse,  so  that  they  could 
not  reach  to  the  dishes  before  them  to  take  any  thing 
thence  ;  he  sold  wisps  of  straw  to  a  butcher  who 
bought  them  for  swine  ;  that  many  such  prestigious 
pranks  were  played  by  the  unhappy   Faustus,  is  at- 


226  INCREASE    MATHER. 

tested  by  Camerarius,  Wyerus,  Voetius,  Lavater,  and 
Lonicer. 

There  is  newly  published  a  book  (mentioned  in  the 
Acta  Eruditorum')  wherein  the  author  (Wiechard 
Valvassor)  relates,  that  a  Venetian  Jew  instructed 
him  (only  he  would  not  attend  his  instructions)  how 
to  make  a  magical  glass  which  should  represent  any 
person  or  thing  according  as  he  should  desire.  If  a 
magician  by  an  enchanted  glass  can  do  this,  he  may 
as  well  by  the  help  of  a  daemon  cause  false  idasas  of 
persons  and  things  to  be  impressed  on  the  imaginations 
of  bewitched  persons  ;  the  blood  and  spirits  of  a  man, 
that  is  bitten  with  a  mad-dog,  are  so  envenomed,  as 
that  strange  impressions  are  thereby  made  on  his 
imagination.  Let  him  be  brought  into  a  room  where 
there  is  a  looking-glass,  and  he  will  (if  put  upon  it) 
not  only  say  but  swear  that  he  sees  a  dog,  though  in 
truth  there  is  no  dog  it  may  be  within  20  miles  of 
him  ;  and  is  it  not  then  possible  for  the  dogs  of  hell 
to  poison  the  imagination  of  miserable  creatures,  so  as 
that  they  shall  believe  and  swear  that  such  persons 
hurt  them  as  never  did  so  ?  I  have  heard  of  an 
enchanted  pin,  that  has  caused  the  condemnation  and 
death  of  many  scores  of  innocent  persons.  There 
was  a  notorious  witchfinder  in  Scotland,  that  under- 
took by  a  pin,  to  make  an  infallible  discovery  of  sus- 
pected persons,  whether  they  were  witches  or  not,  if 
when  the  pin  was  run  an  inch  or  two  into  the  body  of 
the  accused  party,  no  blood  appeared,  nor  any  sense 
of  pain,  then  he  declared  them  to  be  witches  ;  by 
means  hereof  my  author  tells  me  no  less  than  300 
persons  were  condemned  for  witches  in  that  king- 
dom.      This    bloody    juggler,    after    he    had     done 


FALSE    CONFESSIONS.  227 

enough  in  Scotland,  came  to  the  town  of  Berwick 
upon  Tweed  ;  an  honest  man  now  living  in  New- 
England  assureth  me,  that  he  saw  the  man  thrust  a 
great  brass  pin  two  inches  into  the  body  of  one,  that 
some  would  in  that  way  try  whether  there  was  witch- 
craft in  the  case  or  no  :  the  accused  party  was  not  in 
the  least  sensible  of  what  was  done,  and  therefore  in 
danger  of  receiving  the  punishment  justly  due  for 
witchcraft  ;  only  it  so  happened,  that  Colonel  Fen- 
wick  (that  worthy  gentleman,  who  many  years  since 
lived  in  New-England)  was  then  the  military  gov- 
ernor in  that  town  ;  he  sent  for  the  mayor  and  magis- 
trates advising  them  to  be  careful  and  cautious  in  their 
proceedings  ;  for  he  told  them,  it  might  be  an 
enchanted  pin,  which  the  witchfinder  made  use  of: 
Whereupon  the  magistrates  of  the  place  ordered  that 
he  should  make  his  experiment  with  some  other- pin 
as  they  should  appoint  :  But  that  he  would  by  no 
means  be  induced  unto,  which  was  a  sufficient  dis- 
covery of  the  knavery  and  witchery  of  the  witchfinder. 


FALSE    CONFESSIONS    OF   WITCHES. 

[From  the  Same.] 

I  could  mention  dismal  instances  of  innocent  blood 
which  has  been  shed  by  means  of  the  lies  of  some 
confessing  witches  ;  there  is  a  very  sad  story  men- 
tioned in  the  preface  to  the  relation  of  the  witchcrafts 
in  Sweedland,  how  that  in  the  year  1676,  at  Stock- 
holm, a  young  woman  accused  her  own  mother  (who 
had  indeed  been  a  very  bad  woman,  but  not  guilty  of 


228  INCREASE    MATHER. 

witchcraft),  and  swore  that  she  had  carried  her  to  the 
nocturnal  meetings  of  witches,  upon  which  the  mother 
was  burnt  to  death.  Soon  after  the  daughter  came 
crying  and  howling  before  the  judges  in  open  court, 
declaring  that  to  be  revenged  on  her  mother  for  an 
offence  received,  she  had  falsely  accused  her  with  a 
crime  which  she  was  not  guilty  of;  for  which  she 
also  was  justly  executed.  A  most  wicked  man  in 
France  freely  confessed  himself  to  be  a  magician, 
and  accused  many  others,  whose  lives  were  thereupon 
taken  from  them  ;  and  a  whole  province  had  like  to 
have  been  ruined  thereby,  but  the  impostor  was 
discovered.  The  confessing  pretended  wizard  was 
burnt  at  Paris  in  the  year  1668.  I  shall  only  take 
notice  further  of  an  awful  example  mentioned  by 
A.  B.  Spotswood  in  his  History  of  Scotland,  p.  449. 
His  words  are  these:  "This  summer  (viz.  Anno 
1597),  there  was  a  great  business  for  the  trial  of 
witches,  amongst  others,  one  Margaret  Atkin  being 
apprehended  on  suspicion,  and  threatened  with  tor- 
ture, did  confess  herself  guilty  ;  being  examined 
touching  her  associates  in  that  trade,  she  named  a 
few,  and  perceiving  her  delations  find  credit,  made 
offer  to  detect  all  of  that  sort,  and  to  purge  the 
country  of  them  ;  so  she  might  have  her  life  granted. 
For  the  reason  of  her  knowledge,  she  said,  '  That 
they  had  a  secret  mark  all  of  that  sort  in  their  eyes, 
whereby  she  could  surely  tell,  how  soon  she  looked 
upon  any,  whether  they  were  witches  or  not '  ;  and 
in  this  she  was  so  readily  believed,  that  for  the  space 
of  3  or  4  months  she  was  carried  from  town  to  town 
to  make  discoveries  in  that  kind  ;  many  were  brought 
in  question  by  her  delations,  especially  at  Glasgow, 


FALSE    CONFESSIONS.  229 

where  divers  innocent  women,  through  the  credulity 
of  the  minister  Mr.  John  Cowper,  were  condemned 
and  put  to  death  ;  in  the  end  she  was  found  to  be  a 
mere  deceiver,  and  sent  back  to  Fife,  where  she  was 
first  apprehended.  At  her  trial  she  affirmed  all  to  be 
false  that  she  had  confessed  of  herself  or  others,  and 
persisted  in  this  to  her  death,  which  made  many  fore- 
think  their  too  great  forwardness  that  way,  and  moved 
the  king  to  recall  his  commission  given  out  against  such 
persons,  discharging  all  proceedings  against  them, 
except  in  case  of  a  voluntary  confession,  till  a  solid 
order  should  be  taken  by  the  estates  touching  the 
form  that  should  be  kept  in  their  trial."  Thus 
that   famous  historian. 

2.  If  two  credible  persons  shall  affirm  upon  oath 
that  they  have  seen  the  party  accused  speaking  such 
words,  or  doing  things  which  none  but  such  as  have 
familiarity  with  the  devil  ever  did  or  can  do,  that's 
a  sufficient  ground  for  conviction. 

Some  are  ready  to  say,  that  wizards  are  not  so 
unwise  as  to  do  such  things  in  the  sight  or  hearing 
of  others,  but  it  is  certain  that  they  have  very  often 
been  known  to  do  so.  How  often  have  they  been 
seen  by  others  using  enchantments  ?  Conjuring  to 
raise  storms  ?  And  have  been  heard  calling  upon 
their  familiar  spirits  ?  And  have  been  known  to 
use  spells  and  charms  ?  And  to  shew  in  a  glass  or 
in  a  shew-stone  persons  absent  ?  And  to  reveal 
secrets  which  could  not  be  discovered  but  by  the 
devil  ?  And  have  not  men  been  seen  to  do  things 
which  are  above  human  strength,  that  no  man  living 
could  do  without  diabolical  assistances  ?  Claudia  was 
seen  by  witnesses  enough   to   draw   a   ship  which   no 


230  INCREASE   MATHER. 

human  strength  could  move.  Tuccia  a  vestal  virgin 
was  seen  to  carry  water  in  a  sieve.  The  devil  never 
assists  men  to  do  supernatural  things  undesired.  When 
therefore  such  like  things  shall  be  testified  against  the 
accused  party,  not  by  spectres  which  are  devils  in  the 
shape  of  persons  either  living  or  dead,  but  by  real 
men  or  women  who  may  be  credited,  it  is  proof 
enough  that  such  an  one  has  that  conversation  and 
correspondence  with  the  devil,  as  that  he  or  she, 
whoever  they  be,  ought  to  be  exterminated  from 
amongst  men.  This  notwithstanding  I  will  add  : 
ft  were  better  that  ten  suspected  witches  should 
escape,  than  that  one  innocent  person  should  be 
condemned. 

.  .  .  That  is  an  old  saying,  and  true,  Prestat 
reum  nocentem  absolvi,  quam  ex  prohibitis  bidiciis  & 
illegitima  probatione  condemnari.  It  is  better  that  a 
guilty  person  should  be  absolved,  than  that  he  should 
without  sufficient  ground  of  conviction  be  condemned. 
I  had  rather  judge  a  witch  to  be  an  honest  woman, 
than  judge  an  honest  woman  as  a  witch.  The  word 
of  God  directs  men  not  to  proceed  to  the  execution 
of  the  most  capital  offenders,  until  such  time  as,  upon 
searching  diligently,  the  matter  is  found  to  be  a  truth , 
and  the  thing  certain,  Deut.  13,  14,  15. 


COTTON    MATHER. 

This  most  distinguished  of  all  the  Mathers  was 
born  in  Boston,  February  12,  1663,  and  died 
there  February  13,  1728,  surviving  his  great  father, 
Increase,  not  quite  five  years.  He  was  a  prodigy  of 
learning  from  his  youth,  graduating  from  Harvard 
when  less  than  sixteen,  and  beginning  to  preach 
before  he  was  eighteen,  but  not  before  he  had  cured 
himself  from  stammering.  In  1684  he  became  an 
associate  pastor  with  his  father  in  the  North  Church. 
Here  he  did  most  useful  work  of  a  philanthropic  nature, 
combatting  intemperance  and  other  social  evils. 
This  phase  of  his  career  is  summed  up  in  his  widely 
read  book,  Essays  to  do  Good  (  1  7  10).  Unfortunately 
most  of  his  books  are  written  in  such  a  quaint  style, 
and  have  such  fantastic  titles,  and  his  chief  work, 
the  ecclesiastical  history  of  New  England,  entitled 
Mag?ialia  Chris ti  Americana  (1702),  is  so  monu- 
mental a  production,  that  as  a  writer  Cotton  Mather 
has  a  less  reputation  among  modern  readers  than  he 
deserves.  The  chief  part  of  his  fame  also  is  far  from 
being  based  on  anything  philanthropic.  He  is  best 
known  for  the  share  he  took  in  the  persecution  of  the 
witches,  and  while  it  is  most  likely  that  the  charges 
brought  against  him  by  his  opponents  were  much 
exaggerated,  it  is  quite  clear  that  he  did  not  exercise 
ordinary  prudence  in  his  relations  with  those  supposed 
231 


232  COTTON    MATHER. 

to  be  possessed.  He  was  himself  an  ascetic  who  had 
visions,  and  he  was  a  pedant  scholar  who  believed 
firmly  in  what  had  been  handed  down  from  the  past  ; 
in  consequence  he  was  quite  ready  to  credit  the  most 
marvellous  of  the  stories  told  about  the  unfortunate 
victims  of  popular  frenzy.  Till  the  last  he  believed 
confidently  that  he  had  done  God  service  in  the 
deplorable  affair.  It  is  more  to  his  credit  to-day  that 
he  was  among  the  earliest  and  most  unflinching  advo- 
cates of  inoculation  for  smallpox. 

It  is  impossible  to  do  justice  here  to  Mather's  com- 
plex character.  He  was  very  vain,  yet  from  his 
earliest  youth  he  was  trained  and  trained  himself  to  be 
self-conscious,  and  he  was  always  subjected  to  a  great 
deal  of  adulation.  He  had  many  domestic  misfor- 
tunes, yet  he  bore  up  bravely  under  them.  He  was 
pedantic  and  fantastic,  yet  his  industry  was  enormous, 
and  his  learning  nothing  short  of  colossal.  He  had 
many  opponents  who  managed  to  keep  the  presidency 
of  Harvard  out  of  his  grasp,  and  to  thwart  him  in 
many  ways,  yet,  as  we  have  seen,  he  was  one  of  the 
earliest  of  our  philanthropists,  his  example  in  this 
respect  stimulating  Benjamin  Franklin  himself.  But 
this  active  man  was  all  the  while  a  visionary  who  in- 
dulged in  vigils  and  fasts  to  the  point  of  extravagance, 
and  who  actually  never  coughed  or  washed  his  hands 
without  a  private  prayer  or  pious  ejaculation. 

As  a  scholar  and  writer  Cotton  Mather  was  the 
most  celebrated  American  colonial  before  the  days  of 
Franklin.  He  was  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society, 
and  conducted  a  large  correspondence  with  learned 
foreigners.  His  productions,  many  of  them  sermons 
of  course,  run  up  to  or  pass  the  prodigious  number  of 


ORIGIN    OF   WITCHCRAFT.  233 

four  hundred  titles,  and  there  are  voluminous  diaries 
and  treatises  by  him  that  are  still  in  manuscript.  He 
has  been  called,  with  not  a  little  truth,  a  *<  literary 
behemoth,"  but  he  was  also  on  the  whole  a  great 
writer  whose  Magnalia  is  the  most  important  work 
of  its  epoch,  and  many  of  whose  minor  writings  may 
be  read  with  interest  and  profit,  especially  the  quaint 
Parentator  (1724),  in  which  he  described  the  life 
of  his  father,  and  The  Wonders  of  the  Invisible 
World  (1693),  his  chief  contribution  to  the  literature 
of  the  witchcraft  delusion.  His  son,  Samuel,  wrote 
a  very  dull  life  of  him  in  1729,  but  he  has  been 
fortunate  in  finding  in  Professor  Barrett  Wendell  a 
most  sympathetic  and  competent  biographer. 

THE  ORIGIN  OF  WITCHCRAFT  IN  NEW 
ENGLAND. 

[From  "The  Wonders  of  the  Invisible  World." 
1693.] 

We  have  been  advised  by  some  credible  Christians 
yet  alive,  that  a  malefactor,  accused  of  witchcraft  as 
well  as  murder,  and  executed  in  this  place  more  than 
forty  years  ago,  did  then  give  notice  of  an  horrible 
plot  against  the  country  by  witchcraft,  and  a  founda- 
tion of  witchcraft  then  laid,  which  if  it  were  not 
seasonably  discovered  would  probably  blow  up  and 
pull  down  all  the  churches  in  the  country.  And  we 
have  now  with  horror  seen  the  discovery  of  such  a 
witchcraft !  An  army  of  devils  is  horribly  broke  in 
upon  the  place  which  is  the  centre,  and,  after  a  sort, 


234  COTTON    MATHER. 

the  first-born  of  our  English  settlements  ;  and  the 
houses  of  the  good  people  there  are  MU'd  with  the 
doleful  shrieks  of  their  children  and  servants,  tor- 
mented by  invisible  hands,  with  tortures  altogether 
preternatural.  After  the  mischiefs  there  endeavored, 
and  since  in  part  conquered,  the  terrible  plague,  of 
evil  angels,  hath  made  its  progress  into  some  other 
places,  where  other  persons  have  been  in  like  manner 
diabolically  handled.  These  our  poor  afflicted  neigh- 
bors, quickly  after  they  become  infected  and  infested 
with  these  daemons,  arrive  to  a  capacity  of  discern- 
ing those  which  they  conceive  the  shapes  of  their 
troublers  ;  and  notwithstanding  the  great  and  just  sus- 
picion, that  the  daemons  might  impose  the  shapes  of 
innocent  persons  in  their  spectral  exhibitions  upon  the 
sufferers  (which  may  perhaps  prove  no  small  part  of 
the  witch-plot  in  the  issue),  yet  many  of  the  persons 
thus  represented  being  examined,  several  of  them  have 
been  convicted  of  a  very  damnable  witchcraft.  Yea, 
more  than  one  twenty  have  confessed  that  they  have 
signed  unto  a  book  which  the  devil  show'd  them, 
and  engaged  in  his  hellish  design  of  bewitching  and 
ruining  our  land.  We  know  not,  at  least  I  know 
not,  how  far  the  delusions  of  Satan  may  be  inter- 
woven into  some  circumstances  of  the  confessions  ; 
but  One  would  think  all  the  rules  of  understanding 
human  affairs  are  at  an  end,  if  after  so  many  most 
voluntary  harmonious  confessions,  made  by  intelligent 
persons  of  all  ages,  in  sundry  towns,  at  several  times, 
we  must  not  believe  the  main  strokes  wherein  those 
confessions  all  agree ;  especially  when  we  have  a 
thousand  preternatural  things  every  day  before  our 
eyes,   wherein  the  confessors    do  acknowledge  their 


ORIGIN    OF   WITCHCRAFT.  235 

concernment,  and  give  demonstration  of  their  being 
so  concerned.  If  the  devils  now  can  strike  the 
minds  of  men  with  any  poisons  of  so  fine  a  composi- 
tion and  operation,  that  scores  of  innocent  people 
shall  unite  in  confessions  of  a  crime  which  we  see 
actually  committed,  it  is  a  thing  prodigious,  beyond 
the  wonders  of  the  former  ages,  and  it  threatens  no 
less  than  a  sort  of  dissolution  upon  the  world.  Now, 
by  these  confessions  'tis  agreed  that  the  devil  has 
made  a  dreadful  knot  of  witches  in  the  country,  and 
by  the  help  of  witches  has  dreadfully  increased  that 
knot  ;  that  these  witches  have  driven  a  trade  commis- 
sioning their  confederate  spirits,  to  do  all  sorts  of  mis- 
chiefs to  the  neighbors,  whereupon  there  have  ensued 
such  mischievous  consequences  upon  the  bodies  and 
estates  of  the  neighborhood,  as  could  not  otherwise 
be  accounted  for.  Yea,  that  at  prodigious  witch- 
meetings,  the  wretches  have  proceeded  so  far  as  to 
concert  and  consult  the  methods  of  rooting  out  the 
Christian  religion  from  this  country,  and  setting  up 
instead  of  it,  perhaps  a  more  gross  diabolism  than 
ever  the  world  saw  before.  And  yet  it  will  be  a 
thing  little  short  of  miracle,  if  in  so  spread  a  business 
as  this,  the  devil  should  not  get  in  some  of  his  juggles 
to  confound  the  discovery  of  all  the  rest.    .    .   . 


X 


236  COTTON    MATHER. 


CONCERNING    THE   DEVIL. 

[From  a  Discourse  on  "The  Wonders  of  the 
Invisible  World."  Uttered  (in  Part)  '\n 
August  4,    1692.      Printed  in  the  Above.] 

That  there  is  a  devil,  is  a  thing  doubted  by  none 
but  such  as  are  under  the  influences  of  the  devil. 
For  any  to  deny  the  being  of  a  devil  must  be  from 
an  ignorance  or  profaneness,  worse  than  diabolical. 
A  devil.  What  is  that?  We  have  a  definition  of 
the  monster,  in  Eph.  vi.  12.  A  spiritual  wicked- 
ness, that  is,  a  wicked  spirit.  A  devil  is  a  fallen 
angel,  an  angel  fallen  from  the  fear  and  love  of  God, 
and  from  all  celestial  glories  ;  but  fallen  to  all  manner 
of  wretchedness  and  cursedness.  He  was  once  in 
that  order  of  heavenly  creatures  which  God  in  the 
beginning  made  ministering  spirits,  for  his  own  pecu- 
liar service  and  honor,  in  the  management  of  the 
universe  ;  but  we  may  now  write  that  epitaph  upon 
him,  "  How  art  thou  fallen  from  heaven  !  thou  hast 
said  in  thine  heart,  I  will  exalt  my  throne  above  the 
stars  of  God  ;  but  thou  art  brought  down  to  hell  !  " 
A  devil  is  a  spiritual  and  rational  substance,  by  his 
apostacy  from  God  inclined  unto  all  that  is  vicious, 
and  for  that  apostacy  confined  unto  the  atmosphere 
of  this  earth,  in  chains  unto  darkness,  unto  the  judge- 
ment of  the  great  day.  This  is  a  devil  ;  and  the 
experience  of  mankind,  as  well  as  the  testimony  of 
Scripture,  does  abundantly  prove  the  existence  of  such 
a  devil.    .    .    . 

First,  then,  'tis  to  be  granted  ;  the  devils  are  so 


CONCERNING   THE    DEVIL.  237 

many,  that  some  thousands  can  sometimes  at  once 
apply  themselves  to  vex  one  child  of  man.  It  is  said, 
in  Mark  v.  15,  he  that  was  possessed  with  the  devil 
had  the  legion.  Dreadful  to  be  spoken  !  A  legion 
consisted  of  twelve  thousand  five  hundred  people  ; 
and  we  see  that  in  one  man  or  two,  so  many  devils 
can  be  spared  for  a  garrison.  As  the  prophet  cried 
out,  "  Multitudes,  multitudes,  in  the  Valley  of  Deci- 
sion !"  So  I  say,  there  are  multitudes,  multitudes, 
in  the  valley  of  destruction,  where  the  devils  are  ! 
When  we  speak  of  the  devil,  'tis  a  name  of  multi- 
tude ;  it  means  not  one  individual  devil,  so  potent 
and  scient,  as  perhaps  a  Manichee  would  imagine  ; 
but  it  means  a  kind  which  a  multitude  belongs  unto. 
Alas,  the  devils  they  swarm  about  us,  like  the  frogs  of 
Egypt,  in  the  most  retired  of  our  chambers.  Are  we 
at  our  boards  ?  There  will  be  devils  to  tempt  us 
unto  sensuality.  Are  we  in  our  beds  ?  There  will 
be  devils  to  tempt  us  unto  carnality.  Are  we  in  our 
shops  ?  There  will  be  devils  to  tempt  us  unto  dis- 
honesty. Yea,  though  we  get  into  the  church  of 
God,  there  will  be  devils  to  haunt  us  in  the  very 
temple  itself,  and  there  tempt  us  to  manifold  misbe- 
haviors. I  am  verily  persuaded  that  there  are  very 
few  human  affairs  whereinto  some  devils  are  not  in- 
sinuated. There  is  not  so  much  as  a  journey  intended, 
but  Satan  will  have  an  hand  in  hindering  or  furthering 
of  it. 

Secondly,  'Tis  to  be  supposed,  that  there  is  a  sort 
of  arbitrary,  even  military  government,  among  the 
devils.  This  is  intimated,  when  in  Mar.  v.  9,  the 
unclean  spirit  said,  "  My  name  is  Legion."  They 
are  such  a  discipline  as  legions  use  to  be.      Hence  we 


238  COTTON    MATHER. 

read  about  the  prince  of  the  powers  of  the  air.  Our 
air  has  a  power  ?  or  an  army  of  devils  in  the  high 
places  of  it  ;  and  these  devils  have  a  prince  over  them, 
who  is  king  over  the  children  of  pride.  'Tis  proba- 
ble that  the  devil,  who  was  the  ringleader  of  that 
mutinous  and  rebellious  crew  which  first  shook  off  the 
authority  of  God,  is  now  the  general  of  those  hellish 
armies  ;  our  Lord  that  conquered  him  has  told  us  the 
name  of  him  ;  'tis  Belzebub  ;  'tis  he  that  is  the  devil 
and  the  rest  are  his  angels,  or  his  soldiers.  Think 
on  vast  regiments  of  cruel  and  bloody  French  dra- 
goons, with  an  intendant  over  them,  overrunning  a 
pillaged  neighborhood,  and  you  will  think  a  little  what 
the  constitution  among  the  devils  is. 

Thirdly,  'tis  to  be  supposed  that  some  devils  are 
more  peculiarly  commission' d,  and  perhaps  qualify' d, 
for  some  countries,  while  others  are  for  others.  This 
is  intimated  when  in  Mar.  v.  10,  the  devils  besought 
our  Lord  much,  that  he  would  not  send  them  away 
out  of  the  country.  Why  was  that  ?  But  in  all 
probability,  because  these  devils  were  more  able  to  do 
the  work  of  the  devil,  in  such  a  country,  than  in 
another.  It  is  not  likely  that  every  devil  does  know 
every  language  ;  or  that  every  devil  can  do  every 
mischief.  'Tis  possible  that  the  experience,  or,  if  I 
may  call  it  so,  the  education  of  all  devils  is  not  alike, 
and  that  there  may  be  some  difference  in  their  abili- 
ties. If  one  might  make  an  inference  from  what  the 
devils  do,  to  what  they  are,  one  cannot  forbear  dream- 
ing that  there  are  degrees  of  devils.  Who  can  allow 
that  such  trifling  daemons,  as  that  of  Mascon,  or  those 
that  once  infested  our  Newberry,  are  of  so  much 
grandeur,  as  those  daemons,  whose  games  are  mighty 


WITCH   TRIALS.  239 

kingdoms?  Yea,  'tis  certain,  that  all  devils  do  not 
make  a  like  figure  in  the  invisible  world.  Nor  does 
it  look  agreeably  that  the  demons,  which  were  the 
familiars  of  such  a  man  as  the  old  Apollonius,  differ 
not  from  those  baser  goblins  that  choose  to  nest  in 
the  filthy  and  loathsome  rags  of  a  beastly  sorceress. 
Accordingly,  why  may  not  some  devils  be  more  ac- 
complished for  what  is  to  be  done  in  such  and  such 
places,  when  others  must  be  detach' d  for  other  terri- 
tories ?  Each  devil,  as  he  sees  his  advantage,  cries 
out,  "  Let  me  be  in  this  couutry,  rather  than  another." 
But  enough,  if  not  too  much,  of  these  things.   .   .   . 

SOME    OF   THE    EVIDENCE   AT   THE 
WITCH   TRIALS. 

[From  the  Same.] 

from  the  trial  of  george  burroughs. 

Glad  should  I  have  been  if  I  had  never  known  the 
name  of  this  man  ;  or  never  had  this  occasion  to  men- 
tion so  much  as  the  first  letters  of  his  name.  But 
the  government  requiring  some  account  of  his  trial  to 
be  inserted  in  this  book,  it  becomes  me  with  all  obedi- 
ence to  submit  unto  the  order. 

This  G.  B.  was  indicted  for  witch-craft,  and  in 
the  prosecution  of  the  charge  against  him  he  was  ac- 
cused by  five  or  six  of  the  bewitched,  as  the  author 
of  their  miseries  ;  he  was  accused  by  eight  of  the  con- 
fessing witches,  as  being  a  head  actor  at  some  of  their 
hellish   randezvouzes,  and  one  who  had  the  promise 


240  COTTON    MATHER. 

of  being  a  king  in  Satan's  kingdom,  now  going  to  be 
erected.  He  was  accused  by  nine  persons  for  ex- 
traordinary lifting,  and  such  feats  of  strength  as  could 
not  be  done  without  a  diabolical  assistance.  And  for 
other  such  things  he  was  accused,  until  about  thirty  tes- 
timonies were  brought  in  against  him  ;  nor  were  these 
judg'd  the  half  of  what  might  have  been  considered 
for  his  conviction.  However  they  were  enough  to 
fix  the  character  of  a  witch  upon  him  according  to 
the  rules  of  reasoning,  by  the  judicious  Gaule,  in  that 
case  directed.    .    .    . 

The  testimonies  of  the  other  sufferers  concurred  with 
these  ;  and  it  was  remarkable  that,  whereas  biting  was 
one  of  the  ways  which  the  witches  used  for  the  vex- 
ing of  the  sufferers,  when  they  cry'd  out  of  G.  B. 
biting  them,  the  print  of  the  teeth  would  be  seen  on 
the  flesh  of  the  complainers,  and  just  such  a  set  of 
teeth  as  G.  B.'s  would  then  appear  upon  them,  which 
could  be  distinguished  from  those  of  some  other  men's. 
Others  of  them  testified  that  in  their  torments  G.  B. 
tempted  them  to  go  unto  a  sacrament,  unto  which 
they  perceived  him  with  a  sound  of  trumpet  summon- 
ing of  other  witches,  who  quickly  after  the  sound 
would  come  from  all  quarters  unto  the  rendezvous. 
One  of  them  falling  into  a  kind  of  trance  affirmed  that 
G.  B.  had  carried  her  away  into  a  very  high  moun- 
tain, where  he  shewed  her  mighty  and  glorious  king- 
doms, and  said,  '*  He  would  give  them  all  to  her,  if 
she  would  write  in  his  book"  ;  but  she  told  him, 
**  They  were  none  of  his  to  give  "  ;  and  refused  the 
motions  ;   enduring  of  much  misery  for  that  refusal. 

It  cost  the  Court  a  wonderful  deal  of  trouble,  to 
hear  the  testimonies  of  the  sufferers  ;  for  when  they 


WITCH    TRIALS.  24 1 

were  going  to  give  in  their  depositions,  they  would 
for  a  long  time  be  taken  with  fits  that  made  them 
uncapable  of  saying  any  thing.  The  chief  judge 
asked  the  prisoner,  who  he  thought  hindered  these 
witnesses  from  giving  their  testimonies.  And  he  an- 
swered, "He  supposed  it  was  the  devil."  That 
honorable  person  replied,  "How  comes  the  devil 
then  to  be  so  loath  to  have  any  testimony  borne 
against  you  ? ' '  Which  cast  him  into  very  great 
confusion.    .    .    . 

Accordingly  several  of  the  bewitched  had  given  in 
their  testimony,  that  they  had  been  troubled  with  the 
apparitions  of  two  women,  who  said  that  they  were 
G.  B.'s  two  wives,  and  that  he  had  been  the  death 
of  them  ;  and  that  the  magistrates  must  be  told  of  it, 
before  whom  if  B.  upon  his  trial  denied  it,  that  they 
did  not  know  but  that  they  should  appear  again  in 
court.  Now  G.  B.  had  been  infamous  for  the  bar- 
barous usage  of  his  two  late  wives,  all  the  country 
over.  Moreover,  it  was  testified,  the  spectre  of 
G.  B.  threatening  of  the  sufferers  told  them  he  had 
killed  (besides  others)  Mrs.  Lawson  and  her  daughter 
Ann.  And  it  was  noted,  that  these  were  the  vir- 
tuous wife  and  daughter  of  one  at  whom  this  G.  B. 
might  have  a  prejudice  for  his  being  serviceable  at 
Salem  Village,  from  whence  himself  had  in  ill  terms 
removed  some  years  before  ;  and  that  when  they 
died,  which  was  long  since,  there  were  some  odd 
circumstances  about  them,  which  made  some  of  the 
attendants  there  suspect  something  of  witch-craft, 
though  none  imagined  from  what  quarter  it  should 
come. 

Well,  G.   B.   being  now  upon  his  trial,   one  of 


242  COTTON    MATHER. 

the  bewitched  persons  was  cast  into  horror  at  the 
ghost  of  B's  two  deceased  wives  then  appearing  be- 
fore him,  and  crying  for  vengeance  against  him. 
Hereupon  several  of  the  bewitched  persons  were  suc- 
cessively called  in,  who  all,  not  knowing  what  the 
former  had  seen  and  said,  concurred  in  their  horror 
of  the  apparition,  which  they  affirmed  that  he  had 
before  him.  But  he,  though  much  appalled,  utterly 
deny'd  that  he  discern' d  any  thing  of  it  ;  nor  was  it 
any  part  of  his  conviction.    .    .    . 

A  famous  divine  recites  this  among  the  convictions 
of  a  witch  :  ff  The  testimony  of  the  party  bewitched, 
whether  pining  or  dying  ;  together  with  the  joint 
oaths  of  sufficient  persons  that  have  seen  certain  pro- 
digious pranks  or  feats  wrought  by  the  party  accused." 
Now,  God  had  been  pleased  so  to  leave  this  G.  B. 
that  he  had  ensnared  himself  by  several  instances, 
which  he  had  formerly  given  of  a  preternatural 
strength,  and  which  were  now  produced  against  him. 
He  was  a  very  puny  man,  yet  he  had  often  done 
things  beyond  the  strength  of  a  giant.  A  gun  of 
about  seven  foot  barrel,  and  so  heavy  that  strong 
men  could  not  steadily  hold  it  out  with  both  hands  ; 
there  were  several  testimonies,  given  in  by  persons 
of  credit  and  honor,  that  he  made  nothing  of  taking 
up  such  a  gun  behind  the  lock  with  but  one  hand, 
and  holding  it  out  like  a  pistol  at  arms-end.  G.  B. 
in  his  vindication  was  so  foolish  as  to  say,  "  That 
an  Indian  was  there,  and  held  it  out  at  the  same 
time."  Whereas  none  of  the  spectators  ever  saw 
any  such  Indian  ;  but  they  supposed,  the  "  Black 
Man"  (as  the  witches  call  the  devil  ;  and  they  gen- 
erally say  he  resembles  an  Indian)  might  give  him 


WITCH   TRIALS.  243 

that  assistance.  There  was  evidence  likewise  brought 
in,  that  he  made  nothing  of  taking  up  whole  barrels 
fill' d  with  molasses  or  cider  in  very  disadvantageous 
postures  and  carrying  of  them  through  the  difficultest 
places  out  of  a  canoe  to  the  shore. 

Yea,  there  were  two  testimonies,  that  G.  B.  with 
only  putting  the  forefinger  of  his  right  hand  into  the 
muzzle  of  an  heavy  gun,  a  fowling-piece  of  about  six 
or  seven  foot  barrel,  did  lift  up  the  gun,  and  hold 
it  out  at  arms-end  ;  a  gun  which  the  deponents 
thought  strong  men  could  not  with  both  hands  lift 
up  and  hold  out  at  the  butt-end,  as  is  usual.  Indeed, 
one  of  these  witnesses  was  over-persuaded  by  some 
persons  to  be  out  of  the  way  upon  G.  B.'s  trial; 
but  he  came  afterwards  with  sorrow  for  his  with- 
draw [al],  and  gave  in  his  testimony.  Nor  were 
either  of  these  witnesses  made  use  of  as  evidences 
in  the  trial.    .    .    . 

Faltering,  faulty,  unconstant,  and  contrary  answers 
upon  judicial  and  deliberate  examination,  are  counted 
some  unlucky  symptoms  of  guilt,  in  all  crimes,  espe- 
cially in  witchcrafts.  Now  there  never  was  a  prisoner 
more  eminent  for  them  than  G.  B.  both  at  his  ex- 
amination and  on  his  trial.  His  tergiversations,  con- 
tradictions, and  falsehoods  were  very  sensible.  He 
had  little  to  say,  but  that  he  had  heard  some  things 
that  he  could  not  prove,  reflecting  upon  the  reputa- 
tion of  some  of  the  witnesses. 

Only  he  gave  in  a  paper  to  the  jury  ;  wherein, 
although  he  had  many  times  before  granted,  not  only 
that  there  are  witches,  but  also  that  the  present  suf- 
ferings of  the  country  are  the  effects  of  horrible  witch- 
crafts,  yet  he  now  goes  to  evince  it,  M  That  there 


244  COTTON    MATHER. 

neither  re,  nor  ever  were  witches,  that  having  made 
a  compa  :t  with  the  devil  can  send  a  devil  to  torment 
other  people  at  a  distance."  This  paper  was  tran- 
scribed out  of  Adv  ;  which  the  Court  presently 
knew,  as  soon  as  they  heard  it.  But  he  said,  he 
had  taken  none  of  it  out  of  any  book  ;  for  which  his 
evasion  afterwards  was,  that  a  gentleman  gave  him 
the  discourse  in  a  manuscript,  from  whence  he  tran- 
scribed it. 

The  jury  brought  him  in  guilty.  But  when  he 
came  to  die,  he  utterly  denied  the  fact  whereof  he 
had  been  thus  convicted. 

FROM    THE    TRIAL    OF    BRIDGET    BISHOP. 

To  crown  all,  John  Bly  and  William  Bly  testified 
that  being  employed  by  Bridget  Bishop  to  help  to 
take  down  the  cellar  wall  of  the  old  house  wherein 
she  formerly  lived  ;  they  did  in  holes  of  the  said 
old  wall  find  several  puppets,  made  up  of  rags  and 
hogs-bristles,  with  headless  pins  in  them,  the  points 
being  outward  ;  whereof  she  could  give  no  account 
to  the  court  that  was  reasonable  or  tolerable.    .    .    . 

There  was  one  very  strange  thing  more  with 
which  the  court  was  newly  entertained.  As  this 
woman  was  under  a  guard,  passing  by  the  great  and 
spacious  meeting-house  of  Salem,  she  gave  a  look 
towards  the  house,  and  immediately  a  daemon  invisi- 
bly entering  the  meeting-house,  tore  down  a  part  of 
it  ;  so  that  though  there  was  no  person  to  be  seen 
there,  yet  the  people  at  the  noise,  running  in,  found 
a  board,  which  was  strongly  fastened  with  several 
nails,  transported  ^nfo  another  corner  of  the  house. 


WITCH   TRIALS.  245 

FROM    THE    TRIAL    OF    ELIZABETH     HOW. 

Here  was  likewise  a  cluster  of  depositions  that 
Mr.  Isaac  Cummings,  refusing  to  lend  his  mare  unto 
the  husband  of  Mrs.  How,  the  mare  was  wTithin  a 
day  or  two  taken  in  a  strange  condition.  The  beast 
seemed  much  abused,  being  bruised  as  if  she  had  been 
running  over  the  rocks,  and  marked  where  the  bridle 
went,  as  if  burnt  with  a  red-hot  bridle.  Moreover, 
one  using  a  pipe  of  tobacco  for  the  cure  of  the  beast, 
a  blue  flame  issued  out  of  her,  took  hold  of  her  hair, 
and  not  only  spread  and  burnt  on  her,  but  it  also 
flew  upwards  towards  the  roof  of  the  barn,  and  had 
like  to  have  set  the  barn  on  fire.  And  the  mare  died 
very  suddenly. 

FROM    THE    TRIAL    OF    MARTHA    CARRIER. 

Martha  Carrier  was  indicted  for  the  bewitching 
certain  persons,  according  to  the  form  usual  in  such 
cases  pleading  not  guilty  to  her  indictment  ;  there 
were  first  brought  in  a  considerable  number  of  the 
bewitched  persons  ;  who  not  only  made  the  court 
sensible  of  a  horrid  witchcraft  committed  upon  them, 
but  also  deposed  that  it  was  Martha  Carrier  or  her 
shape  that  grievously  tormented  them  by  biting, 
pricking,  pinching  and  choking  of  them.  It  was 
further  deposed  that  while  this  Carrier  was  on  her 
examination  before  the  magistrates,  the  poor  people 
were  so  tortured  that  every  one  expected  their  death 
upon  the  very  spot,  but  that  upon  the  binding  oi 
Carrier  they  were  eased.  Moreover  the  look  ot 
Carrier  then  laid  the  afflicted  people  for  dead  ;   and 


246  COTTON    MATHER. 

her  touch,  if  her  eye  at  the  same  time  were  off  them, 
raised  them  again.  Which  things  were  also  now  seen 
upon  her  trial.  And  it  was  testified,  that  upon  the 
mention  of  some  having  their  necks  twisted  almost 
round  by  the  shape  of  this  Carrier,  she  replied, 
"  It's  no  matter  though  their  necks  had  been  twisted 
quite  off." 

Before  the  trial  of  this  prisoner  several  of  her  own 
children  had  frankly  and  fully  confessed,  not  only 
that  they  were  witches  themselves,  but  that  this  their 
mother  had  made  them  so.  This  confession  they 
made  with  great  shews  of  repentance,  and  with  much 
demonstration  of  truth.  They  related  place,  time, 
occasion  ;  they  gave  an  account  of  journeys,  meetings 
and  mischiefs  by  them  performed,  and  were  very  cred- 
ible in  what  they  said.  Nevertheless,  this  evidence 
was  not  produced  against  the  prisoner  at  the  bar, 
inasmuch  as  there  was  other  evidence  enough  to  pro- 
ceed upon.    .    .    . 

Allin  Toothaker  testify'd  that  Richard,  the  son  of 
Martha  Carrier,  having  some  difference  with  him, 
pull'd  him  down  by  the  hair  of  the  head.  When  he 
rose  again  he  was  going  to  strike  at -Richard  Carrier  ; 
but  fell  down  flat  on  his  back  to  the  ground  and  had 
hot  power  to  stir  hand  or  foot,  until  he  told  Carrier 
he  yielded  ;  and  then  he  saw  the  shape  of  Martha 
Carrier  go  off  his  breast. 

This  Toothaker  had  received  a  wound  in  the  wars  ; 
and  he  now  testify'd  that  Martha  Carrier  told  him  he 
should  never  be  cured.  Just  afore  the  apprehending 
of  Carrier,  he  could  thrust  a  knitting  needle  into  his 
wound,  four  inches  deep  ;  but  presently  after  her 
being  seized,  he  was  thoroughly  healed.    .    .    . 


A    MUNICIPAL   REFORMER.  247 

One  Foster,  who  confessed  her  own  share  in  the 
witchcraft  for  which  the  prisoner  stood  indicted, 
affirmed  that  she  had  seen  the  prisoner  at  some  of 
their  witch  meetings,  and  that  it  was  this  Carrier, 
who  persuaded  her  to  be  a  witch.  She  confess' d, 
that  the  devil  carry' d  them  on  a  pole  to  a  witch- 
meeting  ;  but  the  pole  broke,  and  she  hanging  about 
Carrier's  neck,  they  both  fell  down,  and  she  then 
received  an  hurt  by  the  fall  whereof  she  was  not  at 
this  very  time  recovered.    .    .    . 

In  the  time  of  this  prisoner's  trial,  one  Susanna 
Sheldon  in  open  court  had  her  hands  unaccountably 
ty'd  together  with  a  wheel-band,  so  fast  that  without 
cutting  it  could  not  be  loosed.  It  was  done  by  a 
spectre  ;   and  the  sufferer  affirm' d  it  was  the  prisoner's. 

Memorandum.  This  rampant  hag,  Martha  Car- 
rier, was  the  person,  of  whom  the  confessions  of  the 
witches,  and  of  her  own  children  among  the  rest, 
agreed,  that  the  devil  had  promised  her  she  should  be 
Queen  of  Hell. 

A   COLONIAL  MUNICIPAL   REFORMER. 

[From    "The    Bostonian    Ebenezer,"    delivered 
April   7,    1698.] 

.  .  .  Infant-Boston,  thou  hast  those  whom  the 
Bible  calls  nursing-fathers.  Oh,  be  not  froward,  as 
thou  art  in  thy  treating  of  thy  nurses  ;  but  give  thanks 
to  God  for  them.  I  forget  my  self;  'tis  with  the 
fathers  themselves  that  I  am  concerned. 

When  it  was  demanded  of  Demosthenes,  what  it 
was  that   so  long  preserved   Athens  in  a  flourishing 


248  COTTON    MATHER. 

state,  he  made  this  answer:  M  The  orators  are  men 
of  learning  and  wisdom,  the  magistrates  do  justice, 
the  citizens  love  quiet,  and  the  laws  are  kept  among 
them  all."  May  Boston  flourish  in  such  happy 
order! 

And  first,  you  may  assure  yourselves  that  the 
ministers  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  among  you  will 
be  joyful  to  approve  themselves,  as  the  Book  of  God 
has  called  them,  '*  The  helpers  of  your  joy."  O  our 
dear  flocks,  we  owe  you  our  all;  all  our  love,  all  our 
strength,  all  our  time  ;  we  watch  for  you  as  those 
that  must  give  an  account  ;  and  I  am  very  much 
mistaken  if  we  are  not  willing  to  die  for  you,  too, 
if  called  unto  it.  If  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  should 
say  to  us,  ««  My  servant,  if  you'll  die  to-night,  you 
shall  have  this  reward:  the  people  that  you  preach 
to  shall  be  all  converted  unto  me!"  I  think  we 
should  with  triumphing  souls  reply,  "Ah!  Lord, 
then  I'll  die  with  all  my  heart."  Sirs,  we  should 
go  away  "  rejoycing  with  joy  unspeakable  and  full 
of  glory."  I  am  satisfied  that  the  most  furious  and 
foul-mouthed  reviler  that  God  may  give  any  of  us 
to  be  buffeted  withal,  if  he  will  but  come  to  sober 
thoughts,  he  will  say,  That  there  is  not  any  one 
man  in  the  town,  but  the  ministers  wish  that  man 
as  well  as  they  do  their  own  souls,  and  would  gladly 
serve  that  man  by  day  or  by  night,  in  any  thing  that 
it  were  possible  to  do  for  him.  Wherefore,  O  our 
beloved  people,  I  beseech  you  leave  off,  leave  off  to 
throw  stones  at  your  Ebenezers.  Instead  of  that, 
pray  for  us,  and  "  strive  together  with  us  in  your 
prayers  to  God  for  us."  Then  with  the  help  of 
Christ   we'll  promise  you  we  will  set  our  selves  to 


A    MUNICIPAL    REFORMER.  249 

observe  what  special  truths  may  be  most  needful  to 
be  inculcated  upon  you,  and  we  will  inculcate  them. 
We  will  set  our  selves  to  observe  the  temptations  that 
beset  you,  the  afflictions  that  assault  you,  and  the 
duties  that  are  incumbent  on  you;  and  we  will  accom- 
modate our  selves  unto  them.  We  will  set  our  selves 
to  observe  what  souls  among  you  do  call  for  our  more 
particular  addresses,  and  we  will  address  them  faith- 
fully, and  even  travel  in  birth  for  them.  Nor  will 
we  give  over  praying,  and  fasting,  and  crying  to  our 
great  Lord  for  you  until  you  die.  Whatever  other 
helpers  the  town  enjoys,  they  shall  have  that  conven- 
ience in  Ezra  v.  2,  "  With  them  were  the  prophets 
of  God,  helping  them."    .    .    . 

And  now  will  the  Justices  of  the  town  set  them- 
selves to  consider,  How  they  may  help  to  suppress 
all  growing  vices  among  us  ? 

Will  the  Constables  of  the  town  set  themselves 
to  consider,  How  they  may  help  to  prevent  all  evil 
orders  among  us  ? 

There  are  some  who  have  the  eye  of  the  town  so 
much  upon  them,  that  the  very  name  of  Towns-men 
is  that  by  which  they  are  distinguished.  Sirs,  will 
you  also  consider  how  to  help  the  affairs  of  the  town, 
so  as  that  all  things  may  go  well  among  us  ? 

Moreover,  may  not  School-masters  do  much  to 
instil  principles  of  religion  and  civility,  as  well  as 
other  points  of  good  education,  into  the  children 
of  the  town  ?  Only  let  the  town  well  encourage 
its  well-deserving  school-masters. 

There  are  some  officers  ;  but  concerning  all,  there 
are  these  two  things  to  be  desired  :  First,  it  is  to  be 
desired  that   such  officers  as  are  chosen  among   us, 


250  COTTON   MATHER. 

may  be  chosen  in  the  fear  of  God.  May  none  but 
pious  and  prudent  men,  and  such  as  love  the  town, 
be  chosen  to  serve  it.  And,  secondly,  it  is  to  be 
desired  that  officers  of  several  sorts  would  often  come 
together  for  consultation.  Each  of  the  sorts  by  them- 
selves, may  they  often  come  together  to  consult, 
"  What  shall  we  do  to  serve  the  town  in  those  in- 
terests which  are  committed  unto  our  charge?" 
Oh!  what  a  deplorable  thing  will  it  be  for  persons 
to  be  entrusted  with  talents,  (your  opportunities  to 
serve  the  town  are  so  many  talents!)  and  they  never 
seriously  consider,  "  What  good  shall  I  do  with  my 
talents  in  the  place  where  God  hath  stationed  me  ? 

And  will  the  Representatives  of  the  town  be 
considered  among  the  rest,  as  entrusted  with  some 
singular  advantages  for  our  help  ?  The  Lord  give 
you  understanding  in -all  things! 

.  .  .  But  beware,  I  beseech  you,  of  those  provoking 
evils  that  may  expose  us  to  a  plague,  exceeding  all  that 
are  in  the  catalogue  of  the  twenty-eighth  of  Deuteron- 
omy. Let  me  go  on  to  say,  What  !  shall  there  be  any 
bawdy-houses  in  such  a  town  as  this  !  It  may  be  the 
neighbours,  that  could  smoke  them,  and  rout  them,  if 
they  would,  are  loth  to  stir,  for  fear  of  being  reputed  ill 
neighbours.  But  I  say  unto  you,  that  you  are  ill  neigh- 
bours because  you  do  it  not.  All  the  neighbours  are  like 
to  have  their  children  and  servants  poisoned,  and  their 
dwellings  laid  in  ashes,  because  you  do  it  not.  And, 
Oh  !  that  the  drinking-houses  in  the  town  might  once 
come  under  a  laudable  regulation.  The  town  has  an 
enormous  number  of  them  ;  will  the  haunters  of  those 
houses  hear  the  counsels  of  Heaven  ?  For  you  that 
are  the  town-dwellers,  to  be  oft  or  long  in  your  visits 


A    MUNICIPAL    REFORMER.  25  I 

of  the  ordinary,  'twill  certainly  expose  you  to  mis- 
chiefs more  than  ordinary.  1  have  seen  certain  tav- 
erns, where  the  pictures  of  horrible  devourers  were 
hanged  out  for  the  signs  ;  and,  thought  I,  'twere 
well  if  such  signs  were  not  sometimes  too  significant  : 
alas,  men  have  their  estates  devoured,  their  names  de- 
voured, their  hours  devoured,  and  their  very  souls 
devoured,  when  they  are  so  besotted  that  they  are  not 
in  therr  element,  except  they  be  tipling  at  such  houses. 
When  once  a  man  is  bewitched  with  the  ordinary, 
what  usually  becomes  of  him  ?  He  is  a  gone  man  ; 
and  when  he  comes  to  die,  he  will  cry  out,  as  many 
have  done,  '*  Ale-houses  are  hell-houses  !  ale-houses 
are  hell-houses  !  "  But  let  the  owners  of  those 
houses  also  now  hear  our  counsels.  li  Oh  !  hearken 
to  me,  that  God  may  hearken  to  you  another  day  !  " 
It  is  an  honest,  and  a  lawful,  though  it  may  not  be  a 
very  desirable  employment,  that  you  have  under- 
taken :  you  may  glorify  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in 
your  employment  if  you  will,  and  benefit  the  town 
considerably.  There  was  a  very  godly  man  that  was 
an  innkeeper,  and  a  great  minister  of  God  could  say 
to  that  man,  in  3  John  2  m  Thy  soul  prospereth." 
O  let  it  not  be  said  of  you,  since  you  are  fallen  into 
this  employment,  "Thy  soul  withereth  ! "  It  is 
thus  with  too  many  :  especially,  when  they  that  get 
a  license  perhaps  to  sell  drink  out  of  doors,  do  stretch 
their  license  to  sell  within  doors.  Those  private 
houses,  when  once  a  professor  of  the  gospel  comes  to 
steal  a  living  out  of  them,  it  commonly  precipitates 
them  into  an  abundance  of  wretchedness  and  confu- 
sion. But  I  pray  God  assist  you  that  keep  ordinaries, 
to  keep  the  commandments  of  God  in  them.      There 


252  COTTON    MATHER. 

was  an  Inn  at  Bethlehem  where  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  was  to  be  met  withal.  Can  Boston  boast  of 
many  such  ?  Alas,  too  ordinarily  it  may  be  said, 
"  there  is  no  room  for  him  in  the  Inn  !  "    .    .    . 

Furthermore,  What  changes  have  we  seen  in  point 
of  possessions  ?  If  some  that  are  now  rich  were  once 
low  in  the  world,  'tis  possible,  more  that  were  once 
rich  are  now  brought  very  low.  Ah  !  Boston,  thou 
hast  seen  the  vanity  of  all  worldly  possessions.  •  One 
fatal  morning,  which  laid  fourscore  of  thy  dwelling- 
houses,  and  seventy  of  thy  ware-houses,  in  a  ruinous 
heap,  not  nineteen  years  ago,  gave  thee  to  read  it  in 
fiery  characters.  And  an  huge  fleet  of  thy  vessels, 
which  they  would  make  if  they  were  all  together, 
that  have  miscarried  in  the  late  war,  has  given  thee  to 
read  more  of  it.  Here  is  one  petition  more  to  be 
made  unto  our  God  :  "Lord,  help  us  to  ensure  a 
better  and  a  lasting  substance  in  heaven,  and  the  good 
part  that  cannot  be  taken  away." 

In  fine,  how  dreadfully  have  the  young  people  of 
Boston  perished  under  the  judgments  of  God  !  A 
renowned  writer  among  the  Pagans  could  make  this 
remark  :  there  was  a  town  so  irreligious  and  atheis- 
tical, that  they  did  not  pay  their  first  fruits  unto  God  ; 
(which  the  light  of  nature  taught  the  Pagans  to  do  !) 
and,  says  he,  they  were  by  a  sudden  desolation  so 
strangely  destroyed,  that  there  were  no  remainders 
either  of  the  persons,  or  of  the  houses,  to  be  seen 
any  more.  Ah,  my  young  folks,  there  are  few  first- 
fruits  paid  unto  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  among  you. 
From  hence  it  comes  to  pass,  that  the  consuming 
wrath  of  God  is  every  day  upon  you.  New-Eng- 
land has  been  like  a  tottering  house,  the  very  founda- 


A    MUNICIPAL   REFORMER.  253 

tions  of  it  have  been  shaking  ;  but  the  house  thus 
oversetting  by  the  whirlwinds  of  the  wrath  of  God, 
hath  been  like  Job's  house  :  «'  It  falls  upon  the  young 
men,  and  they  are  dead  !"  The  disasters  on  our 
young  folks  have  been  so  multiplied,  that  there  are 
few  parents  among  us  but  what  will  go  with  wounded 
hearts  down  unto  their  graves  :  their  daily  moans  are, 
:'Ah,  my  son,  cut  off  in  his  youth  !  My  son,  my 
son  !  "  Behold  then  the  help  that  we  are  to  ask  of 
our  God  ;  and  why  do  we,  with  no  more  days 
of  prayer  with  fasting,  ask  it?  '*  Lord,  help  the 
young  people  of  Boston  to  remember  thee  in  the 
days  of  their  youth,  and  satisfy  unto  the  survivors  the 
terrible  things  that  have  come  upon  so  many  of  that 
generation." 

And  now  as  Joshua,  having  reasoned  with  his  peo- 
ple a  little  before  he  died,  in  Josh.  xxiv.  26,  27, 
"took  a  great  stone,  and  set  it  up,  and  said  unto  all 
the  people,  Behold,  this  stone  shall  be  a  witness  unto 
you,  lest  ye  deny  your  God  ;  "  thus  we  have  been 
this  day  setting  up  a  stone,  even  an  Ebenezer, 
among  you  ;  and  I  conclude,  earnestly  testifying 
unto  you,  Behold  this  stone  shall  be  a  witness  unto 
you,  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  been  a  good 
Lord  unto  you,  and  if  you  seek  him,  he  will  be  still 
found  of  you  ;  but  if  you  forsake  him,  he  will  cast 
you  off  for  ever. 


254  COTTON    MATHER. 

HIS    PURPOSES   IN   WRITING   THE 
MAGNALIA. 

[From     the     General     Introduction     to      the 
"  Magnalia   Christi  Americana."      1702.] 

I  write  the  wonders  of  the  christian  religion,  fly- 
ing from  the  depravations  of  Europe,  to  the  Ameri- 
can strand  :  and,  assisted  by  the  Holy  Author  of  that 
religion,  I  do,  with  all  conscience  of  truth  required 
therein  by  him,  who  is  the  truth  itself,  report  the 
wonderful  displays  of  his  infinite  power,  wisdom, 
goodness,  and  faithfulness,  wherewith  his  Divine 
Providence  hath  irradiated  an  Indian  wilderness. 

I  relate  the  considerable  matters  that  produced  and 
attended  the  first  settlement  of  colonies,  which  have 
been  renowned  for  the  degree  of  reformation,  pro- 
fessed and  attained  by  evangelical  churches,  erected 
in  those  ends  of  the  earth  :  and  a  field  being  thus  pre- 
pared, I  proceed  unto  a  relation  of  the  considerable 
matters  which  have  been  acted  thereupon. 

I  first  introduce  the  actors  that  have,  in  a  more 
exemplary  manner,  served  those  colonies  ;  and  give 
remarkable  occurrences,  in  the  exemplary  lives  of 
many  magistrates,  and  of  more  ministers,  who  so 
lived,  as  to  leave  unto  posterity  examples  worthy  of 
everlasting  remembrance. 

I  add  hereunto  the  notables  of  the  only  Protestant 
University,  that  even  shone  in  that  hemisphere  of 
the  New  World  ;  with  particular  instances  of 
Criolians,  in  our  biography,  provoking  the  whole 
world  with  virtuous  objects  of  emulation. 


LEARNED   MRS.   BRADSTREET.        255 

I  introduce,  then,  the  actions  of  a  more  eminent 
importance  that  have  signalized  those  colonies  : 
whether  the  establishments,  directed  by  their  synods, 
with  a  rich  variety  of  synodical  and  ecclesiastical  de- 
terminations ;  or,  the  disturbances,  with  which  they 
have  been  from  all  sorts  of  temptations  and  enemies 
tempestuated  ;  and  the  methods  by  which  they  have 
still  weathered  out  each  horrible  tempest. 

And  into  the  midst  of  these  actions,  I  interpose  an 
entire  book,  wherein  there  is,  with  all  possible  verac- 
ity, a  collection  made  of  memorable  occurrences  ; 
and  amazing  judgments  and  mercies,  befalling  many 
particular  persons  among  the  people  of  New  Eng- 
land. 

Let  my  readers  expect  all  that  I  have  promised 
them,  in  this  bill  of  fare  ;  and  it  may  be  that  they 
will  find  themselves  entertained  with  yet  many  other 
passages,  above  and  beyond  their  expectations,  de- 
serving likewise  a  room  in  history  :  in  all  which, 
there  will  be  nothing  but  the  author's  too  mean  way 
of  preparing  so  great  entertainments,  to  reproach  the 
invitation. 


THE   LEARNED    MRS.    BRADSTREET. 

[From  the  Same,  Book  I.] 

But  when  I  mention  the  poetry  of  this  gentleman 
[Gov.  Thomas  Dudley]  as  one  of  his  accomplish- 
ments, I  must  not  leave  unmentioned  the  fame  with 
which  the  poems  of  one  descended  from  him  have 
been  celebrated  in  both  Englands.      If  the  rare  learn- 


256  COTTON    MATHER. 

ing  of  a  daughter,  was  not  the  least  of  those  bright 
things  that  adorned  no  less  a  judge  of  England  than 
Sir  Thomas  More  ;  it  must  now  be  said,  that  a  judge 
.  of  New  England,  namely,  Thomas  Dudley,  Esq.  had 
a  daughter  (besides  other  children)  to  be  a  crown 
unto  him.  Reader,  America  justly  admires  the 
learned  women  of  the  other  hemisphere.  She  has 
heard  of  those  that  were  tutoresses  to  the  old  pro- 
fessors of  all  philosophy  :  she  hath  heard  of  Hippatia, 
who  formerly  taught  the  liberal  arts  ;  and  of  Sarocchia, 
who  more  lately  was  very  often  the  moderatrix  in 
the  disputations  of  the  learned  men  of  Rome  :  She 
has  been  told  of  the  three  Corinnaes,  which  equalled, 
if  not  excelled,  the  most  celebrated  poets  of  their 
time  :  She  has  been  told  of  the  Empress  Eudocia, 
who  composed  poetical  paraphrases  on  divers  parts  of 
the  Bible  :  and  of  Rosuida,  who  wrote  the  lives  of 
holy  men  ;  and  of  Pamphilia,  who  wrote  other  his- 
tories unto  the  life  :  the  writings  of  the  most  re- 
nowned Anna  Maria  Schurnian,  have  come  over  unto 
her.  But  she  now  prays,  that  into  such  catalogues 
of  authoresses,  as  Beverovicius,  Hottinger,  and  Voetius, 
have  given  unto  the  world,  there  may  be  a  room  now 
given  unto  Madam  Ann  Bradstreet,  the  daughter 
of  our  governor  Dudley,  and  the  consort  of  our  gov- 
ernor Bradstreet,  whose  poems,  divers  times  printed, 
have  afforded  a  grateful  entertainment  unto  the  in- 
genious, and  a  monument  for  her  memory  beyond  the 
stateliest  marbles.  It  was  upon  these  poems  that  an 
ingenious  person  bestowed  this  epigram  :  — 

Now  I  believe  tradition,  which  doth  call 
The  Muses  virtues,  graces,  females  all. 
Only  they  are  not  nine,  eleven,  or  three ; 


A   TALE    OF    MUTINY.  257 

Our  auth'ress  proves  them  but  an  unity. 
Mankind,  take  up  some  blushes  on  the  score  j 
Monopolize  perfection  hence  no  more. 
In  your  own  arts  confess  yourselves  outdone  j 
The  moon  hath  totally  eclips'd  the  sun  : 
Not  with  her  sable  mantle  muffing  him, 
But  her  bright  silver  makes  his  gold  look  dim  : 
Just  as  his  beams  force  our  pale  lamps  to  wink, 
And  earthly  fires  within  their  ashes  shrink. 


A    TALE    OF    MUTINY  AND    TREASURE- 
TROVE. 

[From  the  Same.      The  Life  of  Sir  Wm.  Phips.] 

.  .  .  Being  thus  of  the  true  temper  for  doing 
of  great  things,  he  betakes  himself  to  the  sea,  the 
right  scene  for  such  things  ;  and  upon  advice  of  a 
Spanish  wreck  about  the  Bahamas,  he  took  a  voyage 
thither  ;  but  with  little  more  success  than  what  just 
served  him  a  little  to  furnish  him  for  a  voyage  to  Eng- 
land ;  whither  he  went  in  a  vessel,  not  much  unlike 
that  which  the  Dutchmen  stamped  on  their  first  coin, 
with  these  words  about  it  :  Incertum  quo  Fata  fer ant. 
Having  first  informed  himself  that  there  was  another 
Spanish  wreck,  wherein  was  lost  a  mighty  treasure, 
hitherto  undiscovered,  he  had  a  strong  impression 
upon  his  mind  that  he  must  be  the  discoverer  ;  and 
he  made  such  representations  of  his  design  at  White- 
Hall,  that  by  the  year  1683  he  became  the  captain 
of  a  king's  ship,  and  arrived  at  New- England  com- 
mander of  the  Algier-Rose,  a  frigate  of  eighteen  guns 
and  ninety-five  men. 

To  relate  all  the  dangers  through  which  he  passed, 


258  COTTON   MATHER. 

both  by  sea  and  land,  and  all  the  tiresome  trials  of 
his  patience,  as  well  as  of  his  courage,  while  year 
after  year  the  most  vexing  accidents  imaginable 
delayed  the  success  of  his  design,  it  would  even  tire 
the  patience  of  the  reader  ;  for  very  great  was  the 
experiment  that  Captain  Phips  made  of  the  Italian 
observation,  "He  that  cannot  suffer  both  good  and 
evil,  will  never  come  to  any  great  preferment." 
Wherefore  I  shall  supersede  all  journal  of  his  voyages 
to  and  fro,  with  reciting  one  incident  of  his  conduct, 
that  showed  him  to  be  a  person  of  no  contemptible 
capacity.  While  he  was  captain  of  the  Algier-Rose, 
his  men  growing  weary  of  their  unsuccessful  enter- 
prise, made  a  mutiny,  wherein  they  approached  him 
on  the  quarter-deck,  with  drawn  swords  in  their 
hands,  and  required  him  to  join  with  them  in  run- 
ning away  with  the  ship,  to  drive  a  trade  of  piracy 
on  the  South  Seas.  Captain  Phips,  though  he  had 
not  so  much  of  a  weapon  as  an  ox-goad,  or  a  jaw- 
bone in  his  hands,  yet,  like  another  Shamgar  or  Sam- 
son, with  a  most  undaunted  fortitude,  he  rushed  in 
upon  them,  and  with  the  blows  of  his  bare  hands 
felled  many  of  them,  and  quelled   all   the   rest. 

But  this  is  not  the  instance  which  I  intended  ; 
that  which  I  intend  is,  that  (as  it  has  been  related 
unto  me)  one  day  while  his  frigate  lay  careening,  at  a 
desolate  Spanish  island,  by  the  side  of  a  rock,  from 
whence  they  had  laid  a  bridge  to  the  shore,  the  men, 
whereof  he  had  about  an  hundred,  went  all  but  about 
eight  or  ten  to  divert  themselves,  as  they  pretended, 
in  the  woods  ;  where  they  all  entered  into  an  agree- 
ment, which  they  signed  in  a  ring,  that  about  seven 
o'clock   that  evening  they  would  seize  the    captain, 


A   TALE   OF   MUTINY.  259 

and  those  eight  or  ten  which  they  knew  to  be  true 
unto  him,  and  leave  them  to  perish  on  this  island, 
and  so  be  gone  away  unto  the  South  Sea  to  seek  their 
fortune.  Will  the  reader  now  imagine  that  Captain 
Phips,  having  advice  of  this  plot  but  about  an  hour 
and  a  half  before  it  was  to  be  put  in  execution,  yet 
within  two  hours  brought  all  these  rogues  down  upon 
their  knees  to  beg  for  their  lives  ?  But  so  it  was  ! 
for  these  knaves  considering  that  they  should  want  a 
carpenter  with  them  in  their  villainous  expedition, 
sent  a  messenger  to  fetch  unto  them  the  carpenter, 
who  was  then  at  work  upon  the  vessel  ;  and  unto 
him  they  shewed  their  articles ;  telling  him  what  he 
must  look  for  if  he  did  not  subscribe  among  them. 
The  carpenter,  being  an  honest  fellow,  did  with 
much  importunity  prevail  for  one  half  hour's  time  to 
consider  of  the  matter  ;  and  returning  to  work  upon 
the  vessel,  with  a  spy  by  them  set  upon  him,  he 
feigned  himself  taken  with  a  fit  of  the  cholic,  for 
the  relief  whereof  he  suddenly  run  unto  the  captain 
in  the  great  cabin  for  a  dram  ;  where,  when  he 
came,  his  business  was  only,  in  brief,  to  tell  the  cap- 
tain of  the  horrible  distress  which  he  was  fallen  into  ; 
out  the  captain  bid  him  as  briefly  return  to  the 
rogues  in  the  woods,  and  sign  their  articles,  and 
leave  him  to  provide  for  the  rest.  The  carpenter 
was  no  sooner  gone  but  Captain  Phips,  calling 
together  the  few  friends  (it  may  be  seven  or  eight) 
that  were  left  him  aboard,  whereof  the  gunner  was 
one,  demanded  of  them,  whether  they  would  stand 
by  him  in  the  extremity  which  he  informed  them  was 
now  come  upon  him  ;  whereto  they  replied,  "They 
would  stand  by  him,  if  he  could  save  them  ;"   and 


260  COTTON    MATHER. 

he  answered,  "  By  the  help  of  God  he  did  not  fear 
it."  All  their  provisions  had  been  carried  ashore  to 
a  tent,  made  for  that  purpose  there  ;  about  which  they 
had  placed  several  great  guns  to  defend  it,  in  case  of 
any  assault  from  Spaniards,  that  might  happen  to 
come  that  way.  Wherefore  Captain  Phips  immedi- 
ately ordered  those  guns  to  be  silently  drawn  and 
turned  ;  and  so  pulling  up  the  bridge,  he  charged  his 
great  guns  aboard,  and  brought  them  to  bear  on  every 
side  of  the  tent.  By  this  time  the  army  of  rebels 
comes  out  of  the  woods  ;  but  as  they  drew  near  to 
the  tent  of  provisions,  they  saw  such  a  change  of 
circumstances,  that  they  cried  out,  "  We  are  be- 
trayed !  "  And  they  were  soon  confirmed  in  it, 
when  they  heard  the  captain  with  a  stern  fury  call 
to  them,  "Stand  off,  ye  wretches,  at  your  peril  !" 
He  quickly  saw  them  cast  into  a  more  than  ordinary 
confusion,  when  they  saw  him  ready  to  fire  his  great 
guns  upon  them,  if  they  offered  one  step  further  than 
he  permitted  them  ;  and  when  he  had  signified  unto 
them  his  resolve  to  abandon  them  unto  all  the  deso- 
lation which  they  had  purposed  for  him,  he  caused 
the  bridge  to  be  again  laid,  and  his  men  begun  to 
take  the  provisions  aboard.  When  the  wretches  be- 
held what  was  coming  upon  them,  they  fell  to  very 
humble  entreaties  ;  and  at  last  fell  down  upon  their 
knees,  protesting,  "That  they  never  had  anything 
against  him,  except  only  his  unwillingness  to  go  away 
with  the  king's  ship  upon  the  South-Sea  design  ;  but 
upon  all  other  accounts  they  would  choose  rather  to 
live  and  die  with  him  than  with  any  man  in  the 
world.  However,  since  they  saw  how  much  he  was 
dissatisfied  at  it,  they  would  insist  upon  it  no  more, 


THE    SUNKEN    TREASURE    SHIP.    261 

and  humbly  begged  his  pardon.' '  And  when  *he 
judged  that  he  had  kept  them  on  their  knees  long 
enough,  he  having  first  secured  their  arms,  received 
them  aboard  ;  but  he  immediately  weighed  anchor, 
and  arriving  at  Jamaica,  he  turned  them  off. 


THE   SUNKEN   TREASURE   SHIP. 

[From  the  Same.] 

Now,  with  a  small  company  of  other  men  he 
sailed  from  thence  to  Hispaniola,  where,  by  the  pol- 
icy of  his  address,  he  fished  out  of  a  very  old  Spaniard 
(or  Portuguese)  a  little  advice  about  the  true  spot 
where  lay  the  wreck  which  he  had  been  hitherto  seek- 
ing, as  unprosperously  as  the  chy mists  have  their  au- 
risic  stone  ;  that  it  was  upon  a  reef  of  shoals,  a  few 
leagues  to  the  northward  of  Port  de  la  Plata,  upon 
Hispaniola,  a  port  so  called,  it  seems,  from  the  land- 
ing of  some  of  the  shipwrecked  company,  with  a  boat 
full  of  plate,  saved  out  of  their  sinking  frigate  ;  never- 
theless, when  he  had  searched  very  narrowly  the  spot, 
whereof  the  old  Spaniard  had  advised  him,  he  had 
not  hitherto  exactly  lit  upon  it.  Such  thorns  did  vex 
his  affairs  while  he  was  in  the  Rose-frigate  ;  but  none 
of  all  these  things  could  refund  the  edge  of  his  expec- 
tations to  find  the  wreck  ;  with  such  expectations  he 
returned  then  into  England,  that  he  might  there 
better  furnish  himself  to  prosecute  a  new  discovery  ; 
for  though  he  judged  he  might,  by  proceeding  a  little 
further,  have  come  at  the  right  spot  ;  yet  he  found 
his  present  company  too  ill  a  crew*  to  be  confided  in. 


262  COTTON    MATHER. 

■  So  proper  was  his  behaviour,  that  the  best  noble- 
men in  the  kingdom  now  admitted  him  into  their 
conversation  ;  but  yet  he  was  opposed  by  powerful 
enemies,  that  clogged  his  affairs  with  such  demur- 
rages, and  such  disappointments,  as  would  have 
wholly  discouraged  his  designs,  if  his  patience  had 
not  been  invincible.  '*  He  who  can  wait  hath  what 
he  desireth."  Thus  his  indefatigable  patience,  with 
a  proportionable  diligence,  at  length  overcame  the 
difficulties  that  had  been  thrown  in  his  way  ;  and 
prevailing  with  the  Duke  of  Albemarle,  and  some 
other  persons  of  quality,  to  fit  him  out,  he  set  sail 
for  the  fishing-ground,  which  had  been  so  well  baited 
half  an  hundred  years  before  ;  and  as  he  had  already 
discovered  his  capacity  for  business  in  many  consider- 
able actions,  he  now  added  unto  those  discoveries,  by 
not  only  providing  all,  but  also  by  inventing  many  of 
the  instruments  necessary  to  the  prosecution  of  his 
intended  fishery.  Captain  Phips  arriving  with  a  ship 
and  a  tender  at  Port  de  la  Plata,  made  a  stout  canoe 
of  a  stately  cotton-tree,  so  large  as  to  carry  eight  or 
ten  oars,  for  the  making  of  which  periaga  (as  they 
call  it)  he  did,  with  the  same  industry  that  he  did 
every  thing  else,  employ  his  own  hand  and  adse,  and 
endure  no  little  hardship,  lying  abroad  in  the  woods 
many  nights  together.  This  periaga,  with  the  tender, 
being  anchored  at  a  place  convenient,  the  periaga  kept 
busking  to  and  again,  but  could  only  discover  a  reef 
of  rising  shoals  thereabouts,  called  "  The  Boilers," 
—  which,  rising  to  be  within  two  or  three  foot  of 
the  surface  of  the  sea,  were  yet  so  steep,  that  a  ship 
striking  on  them  would  immediately  sink  down,  who 
could  say  how  many  fathom,  into  the  ocean  ?      Here 


THE    SUNKEN   TREASURE    SHIP.     263 

they  could  get  no  other  pay  for  their  long  peeping 
among  the  boilers,  but  only  such  as  caused  them  to 
think  upon  returning  to  their  captain  with  the  bad 
news  of  their  total  disappointment.  Nevertheless,  as 
they  were  upon  the  return,  one  of  the  men,  looking 
over  the  side  of  the  periaga,  into  the  calm  water,  he 
spied  a  sea  feather,  growing,  as  he  judged,  out  of  a 
rock  ;  whereupon  they  bade  one  of  their  Indians  to 
dive,  and  fetch  this  feather,  that  they  might,  however, 
carry  home  something  with  them,  and  make,  at  least, 
as  fair  a  triumph  as  Caligula's.  The  diver  bringing 
up  the  feather,  brought  therewithal  a  surprising  story, 
that  he  perceived  a  number  of  great  guns  in  the 
watery  world  where  he  had  found  his  feather  ;  the 
report  of  which  great  guns  exceedingly  astonished 
the  whole  company  ;  and  at  once  turned  their  de- 
spondencies for  their  ill  success  into  assurances  that 
they  had  now  lit  upon  the  true  spot  of  ground  which 
they  had  been  looking  for  ;  and  they  were  further 
confirmed  in  these  assurances,  when,  upon  further 
diving,  the  Indian  fetched  up  a  sow,  as  they  styled  it, 
or  a  lump  of  silver  worth  perhaps  two  or  three  hun- 
dred pounds.  Upon  this  they  prudently  buoyed  the 
place,  that  they  might  readily  find  it  again  ;  and  they 
went  back  unto  their  captain,  whom  for  some  while 
they  distressed  with  nothing  but  such  bad  news  as 
they  formerly  thought  they  must  have  carried  him. 
Nevertheless,  they  so  slipt  in  the  sow  of  silver  on 
one  side  under  the  table,  where  they  were  now  sitting 
with  the  captain,  and  hearing  him  express  his  reso- 
lutions to  wait  still  patiently  upon  the  providence  of 
God  under  these  disappointments,  that  when  he 
should  look  on  one  side,  he  might  see  that  odd  thing 


264  COTTON    MATHER. 

before  him.  At  last  he  saw  it  ;  seeing  it,  he  cried 
out  with  some  agony,  "  Why  !  what  is  this  ?  whence 
comes  this?"  And  then,  with  changed  counte- 
nances, they  told  him  how  and  where  they  got  it. 
"Then,"  said  he,  "thanks  be  to  God!  we  are 
made  ;  "  and  so  away  they  went,  all  hands  to  work  ; 
wherein  they  had  this  one  further  piece  of  remarkable 
prosperity,  that  whereas  if  they  had  first  fallen  upon 
that  part  of  the  Spanish  wreck  where  the  pieces  of 
eight  had  been  stowed  in  bags  among  the  ballast, 
they  had  seen  a  more  laborious,  and  less  enriching 
time  of  it  ;  now,  most  happily,  they  first  fell  upon 
that,  room  in  the  wreck  where  the  bullion  had  been 
stored  up  ;  and  they  so  prospered  in  this  new  fishery, 
that  in  a  little  while  they  had,  without  the  loss  of 
any  man's  life,  brought  up  thirty-two  tuns  of  silver  ; 
for  it  was  now  come  to  measuring  of  silver  by  tuns. 
Besides  which,  one  Adderly,  of  Providence,  who  had 
formerly  been  very  helpful  to  Captain  Phips  in  the 
search  of  this  wreck,  did,  upon  former  agreement, 
meet  him  now  with  a  little  vessel  here  ;  and  he,  with 
his  few  hands,  took  up  about  six  tuns  of  silver  ; 
whereof,  nevertheless,  he  made  so  little  use,  that  in 
a  year  or  two  he  died  at  Bermudas,  and,  as  I  have 
heard,  he  ran  distracted  some  while  before  he  died. 

Thus  did  there  once  again  come  into  the  light  of 
the  sun  a  treasure  which  had  been  half  an  hundred 
years  groaning  under  the  waters  ;  and  in  this  time 
there  was  grown  upon  the  plate  a  crust  like  limestone, 
to  the  thickness  of  several  inches  ;  which  crust  being 
broken  open  by  iron  contrived  for  that  purpose,  they 
knocked  out  whole  bushels  of  rusty  pieces  of  eight 
which  were  grown  thereinto.      Besides  that  incredible 


THE    SUNKEN    TREASURE    SHIP.     265 

treasure  of  plate  in  various  forms,  thus  fetched  up, 
from  seven  or  eight  fathom  under  water,  there  were 
vast  riches  of  gold,  and  pearls  and  jewels,  which  they 
also  lit  upon  ;  and,  indeed,  for  a  more  comprehensive 
invoice,  I  must  but  summarily  say,  ««  All  that  a  Span- 
ish frigate  uses  to  be  enriched  withal."  Thus  did 
they  continue  fishing  till,  their  provisions  failing  them, 
'twas  time  to  be  gone  ;  but  before  they  went,  Cap- 
tain Phips  caused  Adderly  and  his  folk  to  swear  that 
they  would  none  of  them  discover  the  place  of  the 
wreck,  or  come  to  the  place  any  more  till  the  next 
year,  when  he  expected  again  to  be  there  himself. 
And  it  was  also  remarkable  that  though  the  sows 
came  up  still  so  fast,  that  on  the  very  last  day  of 
the'r  being  there  they  took  up  twenty,  yet  it  was 
afterwards  found  that  they  had  in  a  manner  wholly 
cleared  that  room  of  the  ship  where  those  massy 
things  were  stowed. 

But  there  was  one  extraordinary  distress  which  Cap- 
tain Phips  now  found  himself  plunged  into  ;  for  his 
men  were  come  out  with  him  upon  seamen's  wages, 
at  so  much  per  month  ;  and  when  they  saw  such  vast 
litters  of  silver  sows  and  pigs,  as  they  called  them, 
come  on  board  them  at  the  captain's  call,  they  knew 
not  how  to  bear  it,  that  they  should  not  share  all 
among  themselves,  and  be  gone  to  lead  "a  short  life 
and  a  merry,"  in  a  climate  where  the  arrest  of  those 
that  had  hired  them  should  not  reach  them.  In  this 
terrible  distress  he  made  his  vows  unto  Almighty  God, 
that  if  the  Lord  would  carry  him  safe  home  to  Eng- 
land, with  what  he  had  now  given  him,  **  to  suck  of 
the  abundance  of  the  seas,  and  of  the  treasures  hid  in 
the  sands,"  he  would  forever  devote  himself  unto  the 


266  COTTON    MATHER. 

interests  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  of  his  people, 
especially  in  the  country  which  he  did  himself  origi- 
nally belong  unto.  And  he  then  used  all  the  oblig- 
ing arts  imaginable  to  make  his  men  true  unto  him, 
especially  by  assuring  them  that,  besides  their  wages, 
they  should  have  ample  requitals  made  unto  them  ; 
which  if  the  rest  of  his  employers  would  not  agree 
unto,  he  would  himself  distribute  his  own  share  among 
them.  Relying  upon  the  word  of  one  whom  they 
had  ever  found  worthy  of  their  love,  and  of  their 
trust,  they  declared  themselves  content  ;  bat  still  keep- 
ing a  most  careful  eye  upon  them,  he  hastened  back 
for  England  with  as  much  money  as  he  thought  he 
could  then  safely  trust  his  vessel  withal  ;  not  counting 
it  safe  to  supply  himself  with  necessary  provisions  at 
any  nearer  port,  and  so  return  unto  the  wreck,  by 
which  delays  he  wisely  feared  lest  all  might  be  lost, 
more  ways  than  one.  Though  he  also  left  so  much 
behind  him,  that  many  from  divers  parts  made  very 
considerable  voyages  of  gleanings  after  his  harvest  ; 
which  came  to  pass  by  certain  Bermudians  compelling 
of  Adderly's  boy,  whom  they  spirited  away  with  them 
to  tell  them  the  exact  place  where  the  wreck  was  to  be 
found. 

THE   INCARNATED   WONDERS  OF   NEW 
ENGLAND. 

[From  the  Same.] 

When  Toxaris  met  with  his  countryman  Anacharsis 
in  Athens,  he  gave  him  this  invitation,  *'  Come  along 
with  me,  and  I  will  shew  thee  at  once  all  the  won- 
ders of  Greece  ;  "    whereupon  he  shewed  him  Solon, 


SPEECHES  OF  JOHN  WINTHROP.     267 

as  the  person  in  whom  there  centred  all  the  glories  of 
that  city  or  country.  I  shall  now  invite  my  reader 
to  behold  at  once  the  "  wonders  "  of  New-England, 
and  it  is  in  one  Thomas  Hooker  that  he  shall  behold 
them  ;  even  in  that  Hooker,  whom  a  worthy  writer 
would  needs  call  "Saint  Hooker,"  for  the  same 
reason  (he  said),  and  with  the  same  freedom  that 
Latimer  would  speak  of  Saint  Bilney,  in  his  com- 
memorations. 'Tis  that  Hooker,  of  whom  I  may 
venture  to  say,  that  the  famous  Romanist,  who  wrote 
a  book,  De  Tribus  Tbomis,  or  Of  Three  Thomas's 
—  meaning  Thomas  the  Apostle,  Thomas  a  Becket, 
and  Sir  Thomas  More  —  did  not  a  thousandth  part 
so  well  sort  his  Thomas's,  as  a  New-Englander  might, 
if  he  should  write  a  book,  De  Duobus  Tbomis,  or  Of 
Two  Thomas's  ;  and  with  Thomas  the  Apostle,  join 
our  celebrious  Thomas  Hooker  ;  my  one  Thomas, 
even  our  apostolical  Hooker,  would  in  just  balances 
weigh  down  two  of  Stapleton's  rebellious  archbishops 
or  bigoted  Lord  Chancellors.  'Tis  he  whom  I  may 
call,  as  Theodoret  called  Iranasus,  "The  light  of  the 
western  churches." 

TWO    SPEECHES    OF   JOHN    WINTHROP 
—  NEHEMIAS   AMERICANUS. 

[From  the  Same.] 

Once  more  there  was  a  time  when  some  active 
spirits  among  the  deputies  of  the  colony,  by  their 
endeavours  not  only  to  make  themselves  a  Court  of 
Judicature,  but  also  to  take  away  the  negative  by 
which  the  magistrates  might  check  their  votes,  had 


268  COTTON    MATHER. 

like  by  over-driving  to  have  run  the  whole  govern- 
ment into  something  too  democratical.  And  if  there 
were  a  town  in  Spain  undermined  by  coneys,  another 
town  in  Thrace  destroyed  by  moles,  a  third  in  Greece 
ranversed  by  frogs,  a  fourth  in  Germany  subverted  by 
rats  ;  I  must  on  this  occasion  add,  that  there  was  a 
country  in  America  like  to  be  confounded  by  a  swine. 
A  certain  stray  sow  being  found,  was  claimed  by  two 
several  persons  with  a  claim  so  equally  maintained  on 
both  sides,  that  after  six  or  seven  years'  hunting  the 
business  from  one  court  unto  another,  it  was  brought 
at  last  into  the  General  Court  where  the  final  deter- 
mination was,  "that  it  was  impossible  to  proceed 
unto  any  judgment  in  the  case."  However,  in 
the  debate  of  this  matter,  the  negative  of  the  upper- 
house  upon  the  lower  in  that  Court  was  brought 
upon  the  stage  ;  and  agitated  with  so  hot  a  zeal,  that 
a  little  more,  and  all  had  been  in  the  fire.  In  these 
agitations,  the  governor  was  informed  that  an  offence 
had  been  taken  by  some  eminent  persons  at  certain 
passages  in  a  discourse  by  him  written  thereabout  ; 
whereupon,  with  his  usual  condescendency,  when  he 
next  came  into  the  General  Court,  he  made  a  speech 
of  this  import  :   .    .    . 

This  acknowledging  disposition  in  the  governor 
made  them  all  acknowledge,  that  he  was  truly  "a. 
man  of  an  excellent  spirit."  In  fine,  the  victories 
of  an  Alexander,  an  Hannibal,  or  a  Caesar  over  other 
men,  were  not  so  glorious  as  the  victories  of  this  great 
man  over  himself,  which  also  at  last  proved  victories 
over  other  men. 

§  9.  But  the  stormiest  of  all  the  trials  that  ever 
befell  this  gentleman,  was  in  the  year  1645,  when  he 


FOR    PROMOTING   RELIGION.         269 

was,  in  title,  no  more  than  Deputy-governor  of  the 
colony.  If  the  famous  Cato  were  forty-four  times 
called  into  judgment,  but  as  often  acquitted  ;  let  it  not 
be  wondred,  and  if  famous  Winthrop  were  one  time  so. 
There  happening  certain  seditious  and  mutinous  prac- 
tices in  the  town  of  Hingham,  the  Deputy-governor,  as 
legally  as  prudently,  interposed  his  authority  for  the 
checking  of  them  :  whereupon  there  followed  such  an 
enchantment  upon  the  minds  of  the  deputies  in  the 
General  Court,  that  upon  a  scandalous  petition  of  the 
delinquents  unto  them,  wherein  a  pretended  invasion 
made  upon  the  liberties  of  the  people  was  complained 
of,  the  Deputy-governor  was  most  irregularly  called 
forth  unto  an  ignominious  hearing  before  them  in  a 
vast  assembly  ;  whereto  with  a  sagacious  humilitude 
he  consented,  although  he  shewed  them  how  he 
might  have  refused  it.  The  result  of  that  hearing 
was,  that  notwithstanding  the  touchy  jealousy  of  the 
people  about  their  liberties  lay  at  the  bottom  of  all 
this  prosecution,  yet  Mr.  Winthrop  was  publicly 
acquitted,  and  the  offenders  were  severally  fined  and 
censured.  But  Mr.  Winthrop  then  resuming  the 
place  of  Deputy-governor  on  the  bench,  saw  cause  to 
speak  unto  the  root  of  the  matter  after  this  man- 
ner :   .    .    .      [See  Vol.  I.,  p.  106.] 

PRIVATE  ASSOCIATIONS   FOR  PROMOT- 
ING  RELIGION. 

[From  "  Essays  to  do  Good,"   17 10.      Section 
xiii.] 

We  cannot  dismiss  the  offices  of  good  neighbor- 
hood,  without  offering  a  proposal,    to   animate  and 


270  COTTON    MATHER. 

regulate  private  meetings  of  religious  persons,  for  the 
exercises  of  religion.  It  is  very  certain  that  where 
such  private  meetings  have  been  maintained,  and 
well  conducted,  the  Christians  who  have  composed 
them  have,  like  so  many  '<  coals  of  the  altar,"  kept 
one  another  alive,  and  maintained  a  lively  Christian- 
ity in  the  neighborhood.  Such  societies  have  been 
strong  and  tried  instruments,  to  uphold  the  power  of 
godliness.  The  giving  up  of  such  societies  has  been 
accompanied  with  a  visible  decay  of  godliness  :  the 
less  they  have  been  loved  or  regarded  in  any  place, 
the  less  has  godliness  flourished. 

The  rules  observed  by  some  Associated  Families 
may  be  offered  with  advantage  on  this  occasion. 
They  will  show  us  what  good  may  be  done  in  a 
neighborhood  by   such   societies. 

1.  It  is  proposed,  That  about  twelve  families 
agree  to  meet  (the  men  and  their  wives)  at  each 
other's  houses  in  rotation,  once  in  a  fortnight  or  a 
month,  as  shall  be  thought  most  proper,  and  spend 
a  suitable  time  together  in  religious    exercises. 

2.  The  exercises  of  religion  proper  for  such  a 
meeting  are  :  for  the  brethren  in  rotation  to  com- 
mence and  conclude  with  prayer  ;  for  psalms  to  be 
sung  ;   and  for   sermons   to  be  repeated. 

6.  The  members  of  such  a  society  should  con- 
sider themselves  as  bound  up  in  one  "  bundle  of 
love"  ;  and  count  themselves  obliged,  by  very  close 
and  strong  bonds  to  be  serviceable  to  one  another. 
If  any  one  in  the  society  should  fall  into  affliction  all 
the  rest  should  presently  study  to  relieve  and  support 


CONVERSATION   OF   GENTLEMEN.     27 1 

the  afflicted  person  in  every  possible  manner.  If 
any  one  should  fall  into  temptation,  the  rest  should 
watch  over  him,  and,  with  the  "  spirit  of  meekness," 
with  "  meekness  of  wisdom,"  endeavor  to  recover 
him.  It  should  be  like  a  law  of  the  Medes  and 
Persians  to  the  whole  society  —  that  they  will  upon 
all  just  occasions,  affectionately  give,  and  as  affection- 
ately receive  mutual  admonitions  of  anything  that 
they  may  see  amiss  in  each  other. 

7.  It  is  not  easy  to  reckon  the  good  offices  which 
such  a  society  may  do  to  many  others  besides  its  own 
members  .  .  .  yea,  all  the  land  may  be  the  better 
for  them. 


THE    CONVERSATION   OF  GENTLEMEN. 

[From  the  Same.      Section  xx.] 

There  seems  no  need  of  adding  anything  but  this, 
that  when  gentlemen  occasionally  meet  together,  why 
should  not  their  conversation  correspond  with  their 
superior  station  ?  Methinks  they  should  deem  it 
beneath  persons  of  their  quality  to  employ  the  con- 
versation on  trifling  impertinences,  or  in  such  a  way 
that,  if  it  were  secretly  taken  in  shorthand,  they 
would  blush  to  hear  it  repeated — "Nothing  but 
jesting  and  laughing,  and  words  scattered  by  the 
wind."  Sirs,  it  becomes  a  gentleman  to  entertain 
his  company  with  the  finest  thoughts  on  the  finest 
themes  ;  and  certainly  there  cannot  be  a  subject  so 
worthy  of  a  gentleman  as  this  —  What  good  is  there 
to  be  done  in  the  world?     Were  this  noble  subject 


272  COTTON    MATHER. 

more  frequently  started  in  the  conversation  of  gentle 
men,  an  incredible  good  might  be  done. 


A    HERCULEAN    STUDENT. 

[From  "  Memoirs  of  Remarkables  in  the  Life  and 
the  Death  of  the  Ever-memorable  Dr.  Increase 
Mather,"  1724.  Article  xxxi.  "  The  Lat- 
ter-days."] 

The  Dr.  still  had  many  opportunities  for  special 
service  continued  unto  him,  and  he  approved  him- 
self a  prudent  and  faithful  steward  of  his  talents.  He 
grew  in  the  exercises  of  repentance  and  of  patience, 
and  of  all  piety,  and  communion  with  God  ;  and  in 
the  painful  discharge  of  his  ministry',  and  watchfully 
laid  hold  on  all  opportunities  to  bear  testimonies  for 
the  cause  of  G  )d,  and  of  his  people,  ae  the  matter 
might  require.  But  if  I  cut  the  chapter  into  little 
sections,  it  may  add  something  to  the  relish  of  it. 

1 .  His  purpose  and  manner  of  life,  is  exactly 
described,  in  a  book  about  holiness,  which  was  writ- 
ten by  him,  twenty  years  before  he  died.  In  that 
book  he  offers  admirable  rules  for  growth  towards  a 
perfection  of  holiness,  in  the  fear  of  God  :  Which  he 
introduces  with  saying,  /  shall  not  set  before  you 
directions  impossible  to  be  followed,  or  heavy  burdens 
which  I  wo 'dd  be  loth  myself  to  touch.  No,  we  saw 
his  rules  livelily  exemplified.  But  his  daily  course  m-v 
be  enquired  after.  Besides  his  patient  continuance 
in  that  stroke  of  well-doing,  which  lay  in  his  course 
of  setting    apart   whole   days   for  the  religion   of  the 


A   HERCULEAN    STUDENT. 


273 


closet,  and  which  he  continued  until  the  last  year  of 
his  life  was  coming  on  :  His  daily  course  was  this  : 
And  what  a  grateful  spectacle  to  angels  in  it  ! 

In  the  morning  repairing  to  his  study,  (where  his 
custom  was  to  sit  up  very  late,  even  until  midnight, 
and  perhaps  after  it)  he  deliberately  read  a  chap- 
ter, and  made  a  prayer,  and  then  plied  what  of  reading 
and  writing  he  had  before  him.  At  nine  o'clock  he 
came  down,  and  read  a  chapter  and  made  a  prayer, 
with  his  family.  He  then  returned  unto  the  work 
of  the  study.  Coming  down  to  dinner,  he  quickly 
went  up  again,  and  begun  the  afternoon  with  another 
prayer.  There  he  went  on  with  the  work  of  the 
study  till  the  evening.  Then  with  another  prayer 
he  again  went  unto  his  Father  ;  after  which  he  did 
more  at  the  work  of  the  study.  At  nine  o'clock  he 
came  down  to  his  family  sacrifices.  Then  he  went 
up  again  to  the  work  of  the  study,  which  anon  he 
concluded  with  another  prayer  ;  And  so  he  betook 
himself  unto  his  repose. 

In  the  prayers  of  the  day,  what  there  fell  short  of 
the  number,  in  the  hundred  and  sixty  fourth  verse 
of  the  hundred  and  nineteenth  psalm,  was  doubtless 
made  up  with  numberless  ejaculations  —  Of  such 
ejaculatory  prayers,  no  doubt,  is  to  be  understood, 
what  antiquity  reports  of  the  apostle  Bartholomew, 
That  he  prayed  one  hundred  times  in  a  day  ;  and  of 
one  Paulus,  That  he  did  it  three  hundred  times.  I 
can't  say,  That  this  our  Eusebius  had  so  many 
ejaculatory  prayers  as  these  come  to  ;  But  he  was  the 
happy  man,  that  had  his  quiver  full  of  them  ! 

He  commonly  spent  sixteen  hours  of  the  four  and 
twenty  in  his    laborious    hive  !      Being    very   much 


274  COTTON    MATHER. 

of  Thomas  a  Kempis  his  mind,  Nusquam  requiem 
invenio  nisi  in  libro  et  in  claustro.  He  was  there, 
some  thought,  even  to  a  fault.  More  of  his  pastoral 
visits  were  wished  for. 


A    GREEN   OLD   AGE. 
[From  the  Same.] 

And  now  the  time  draws  nigh,  in  which  Dr.  Mather 
is  to  die. 

He  grows  old,  yet  what  a  green  olive-tree  in  the 
proseucha  of  his  God  !  —  nee  tarda  senectus  debilitat 
vires  animi,  mutatve  vigor  em. 

Old  age  came  on.  But  what  an  one  !  How 
bright  !  How  wise  !  How  strong  !  And  in  what 
an  uncommon  measure  serviceable  !  He  had  been 
an  old  man  while  he  was  yet  a  young  man  ;  I  can 
quote  a  Rabbi  for  it  :  Sapiens  appellator  senex,  etiamsi 
diebus  sit  exiguus.  And  now  he  was  an  old  man  his 
public  performances  had  a  vigor  in  them,  which  'tis  a 
rare  thing  to  see  a  young  man  have  any  thing  equal  to. 

How  did  the  good  people  far  and  near  discover 
even  a  growth  of  their  appetite  for  the  enjoyment  of  as 
much  as  might  be  obtained  from  him  !  The  churches 
would  not  permit  an  ordination  to  be  carried  on  with- 
out him  as  long  as  he  was  able  to  travel  in  a  coach 
unto  them. 

And  on  the  day  of  his  attaining  to  fourscore  he 
preached  a  sermon  full  of  light  and  life  on  those 
words,  Ezek.  xvi.  5,  '*  The  day  when  thou  wast 
born."      They  that  wrote  after  him  have  printed  it. 


A   GREEN    OLD   AGE.  275 

The  mens  et  ratio  et  consilium  which  are  by  Cicero 
mentioned  as  the  prerogatives  of  "Old  Age,"  were 
found  in  him  to  an  uncommon  degree.  On  very 
many  accounts  he  might  have  said,  as  old  Georgias 
did,  Nihil  habeo  propter  quod  senectutem  meam  accu- 
sem  ;  yea,  as  a  better  man,  old  Drusius  did,  Senectus 
mibi  melior  quam  ipsa  juventus.  But  that  which  most 
of  all  gave  him  a  comfortable  old  age,  was  what  Cal- 
vin, who  did  not  live  to  old  age,  well  pitches  on  as 
the  chiefest  comfort  of  old  age  :  l^nendum  est,  pr<e- 
cipuam  partem  bona  senectutis,  in  bona  conscientia  ani- 
moque  ;  sereno  ac  tranquillo  consist  ere.  A  good  heart, 
filled  with  the  love  and  peace  of  God  and  the  soul  of 
an  Abraham. 

In  consideration  of  this  evyrjpta,  it  was  not  amiss 
for  a  grandson,  upon  the  birthday  on  which  he  entered 
fourscore,  thus  to  compliment  him. 

To  my  most  honored  Grandfather,  on  the  day  of  his 
enteri?ig  the  eightieth  year  of  his  age. 

To  my  Grandfather  in  all  good  so  great, 

His  nephew  does  his  age  congratulate. 

'Tis  not  enough,  Sir,  that  you  live  to  see 

Such  years  5   we  hope  you'll  our  true  Nestor  be. 

We  wish  the  years  in  which  you  live  and  preach, 

To  those  of  a  Methuselah  may  reach. 

'Tis  true,  in  common  reckoning  we  suppose 

You  want  eight  hundred  eighty-six  of  those, 

But  measuring  life  by  works  and  not  by  years, 

Your  age  nine  hundred  sixty-nine  appears. 

Methuselah  had  a  bright  father  too  ; 

A  "  walker  with  his  God  ;  "    Sir,  such  as  you. 

If  you  and  we  must  have  a  parting  day, 

Death,  strike  not  !  —  Let  him  go  in  Enoch's  way 

And  Sir,  if  prophets  mayn't  forever  live, 

May  you  in  Grandsons  left  by  you  survive. 


276  COTTON    MATHER. 

But  it  is  now  time  for  me  to  tell  that  after  four- 
score the  report  of  Moses  did  no  longer  want  con- 
firmation with  him.  He  began  to  be  more  sensible 
of  those  decays  which  not  only  caused  him  to  recite 
the  verse  of  the  Roman  satirist  : 

0  quam  continuity  et  quantis,  plena  senectus  longa  malts  ! . 

but  also  caused  him  several  times  to  say  to  me  :  "  Be 
sure,  you  don't  pray  that  you  may  live  beyond  four- 
score !  "  Yet  now  he  preached  nobly  on  (f  An  Old 
Disciple  ;  "  as  well  as  many  other  subjects. 

And  now,  he  that  had  wished  for  *f  sufferings  for 
the  Lord,"  must  be  content  with  sufferings  from  the 
Lord.  Even  these  borne  with  the  faith  and  patience 
of  the  saints  have  a  sort  of  martyrdom  in  them,  and 
will  add  unto  the  '*  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal 
weight  of  glory." 

On  September  25th,  he  did  with  an  excellent  and 
pathetic  prayer,  in  a  mighty  auditory,  conclude  a  '*  day 
of  prayer"  kept  by  his  church,  to  obtain  a  good  suc- 
cess of  the  Gospel  and  the  growth  of  real  and  vital 
piety,  with  plentiful  effusions  of  the  good  Spirit,  espe- 
cially upon  the  "  Rising  Generation."  Within  two 
days  after  this  he  fell  into  an  apoplectic  sort  of  deli- 
quium  (very  much  occasioned,  as  it  was  thought,  by 
too  extreme  a  concern  of  his  mind  on  some  late  occur- 
rences at  New  Haven),  out  of  which  he  recovered  in 
a  few  minutes  ;  but  it  so  enfeebled  him,  that  he  never 
went  abroad  any  more. 

However,  his  "wisdom  yet  remained  with  him." 


VERSES    FROM    THE    MAGNALIA.     277 


VERSES    FROM    THE    MAGNALIA. 

Cotton  Mather  was  no  poet,  but  like  many  of 
nis  quaint  predecessors  of  the  seventeenth  century  he 
thought  it  added  dignity  to  his  pages  to  insert  poet- 
ical tributes  to  the  distinguished  men  about  whom 
he  wrote.  Some  of  these  elegies  and  epitaphs  were 
written  by  himself  in  the  fantastic  style  of  two  gen- 
erations before.  Others,  such  as  the  lines  on  John 
Cotton  by  Benjamin  Woodbridge,  given  in  our  first 
volume,  were  gathered  from  other  sources.  We  here 
select  some  of  Mather's  own  lines,  some  contributed 
by  the  Rev.  Nicholas  Noyes  (1647-17 17),  pastor  at 
Salem,  the  most  fantastic  of  all  our  poets  and  an  in- 
veterate punster,  an  epitaph  by  the  **  ingenious  mer- 
chant," Mr.  Samuel  Bache,  and  a  few  verses  by  a 
certain  Benjamin  Thompson  (1642-1714),  who  has 
the  credit  of  being  our  first  native  born  poet,  of  whom, 
however,  very  little  is  known.  His  New  England1  s 
Crisis,  which  is  supposed  to  be  an  epic  of  King  Philip's 
War,  seems  to  have  been  preserved  only  in  selections, 
but  our  specimen  of  Thompson's  verse  will  hardly 
cause  great  regrets  for  the  fate  of  his  magum  opus. 


278  COTTON    MATHER. 

"A  PREFATORY  POEM,  ON  THAT  EX- 
CELLENT BOOK,  ENTITULED  MAGNA- 
LIA  CHRIST  I  AMERICANA;  WRITTEN 
BY  THE  REV.  MR.  COTTON  MATHER, 
PASTOR  OF  A  CHURCH  AT  BOSTON, 
NEW  ENGLAND." 

By  Nicholas  Noyes. 

to  the  candid  reader. 

Struck  with  huge  love,  of  what  to  be  possest, 

I  much  despond,  good  reader,  in  the  quest  ; 

Yet  help  me,  if  at  length  it  may  be  said, 

Who  first  the  chambers  of  the  south  display' d  ? 

Inform  me,  whence  the  tawny  people  came  ? 

Who  was  their  father,  Japhet,  Shem,  or  Cham  ? 

And  how  they  straddled  to  th'  Antipodes, 

To  look  another  world  beyond  the  seas  ? 

And   when,    and  why,    and  where    they  last  broke 

ground, 
What    risks    they    ran,    where    they  first    anchoring 

found  ? 
Tell  me  their  patriarchs,  prophets,  priests,  and  kings, 
Religion,  manners,  monumental  things  : 
What  charters  had  they  ?      What  immunities  ? 
What  altars,  temples,  cities,  colonies, 
Did  they  erect  ?      Who  were  their  public  spirits  ? 
Where  may  we  find  the  records  of  their  merits  ? 
What  instances,  what  glorious  displays 
Ofheav'n's  high  hand,  commenced  in  their  days? 
These  things  in  black  oblivion  covered  o'er, 


A   PREFATORY    POEM.  279 

(As  they'd  ne'er  been)  lie  with  a  thousand  more, 

A  vexing  thought,  that  makes  me  scarce  forbear, 

To  stamp,  and  wring  my  hands,  and  pluck  my  hair, 

To  think,  what  blessed  ignorance  hath  done, 

What  fine  threads  learning's  enemies  have  spun, 

How  well  books,  schools,  and  college  may  be  spared, 

So  men  with  beasts  may  fitly  be  compared  ! 

Yes,  how  tradition  leaves  us  in  the  lurch, 

And  who,  nor  stay  at  home,,  nor  go  to  church  : 

The  light-within-enthusiasts,  who  let  fly 

Against  our  pen  and  ink  divinity, 

Who  boldly  do  pretend  (but  who'll  believe  it)  ? 

If  Genesis  were  lost,  they  could  retrieve  it  ; 

Yea,  all  the  sacred  writ  ;  pray  let  them  try 

On  the  New  Word,  their  gift  of  prophecy. 

For  all  them,  the  new  world's  antiquities, 

Smother' d  in  everlasting  silence  lies  : 

^  5{C  %.  %.  $z 

Who  can  past  things  to  memory  command, 
Tiil  one  with  Aaron's  breast-plate  up  shall  stand? 
Mischiefs  remediless  such  sloth  ensue  ; 
God  and  their  parents  lose  their  honor  due, 
And  children's  children  suffer  on  that  score, 
Like  bastards  cast  forlorn  at  any  door  ; 
And  they  and  others  put  to  seek  their  father, 
For  want  of  such  a  scribe  as  Cotton  Mather  ; 
Whose  piety,  whose  pains,  and  peerless  pen, 
Revives  New  England's  nigh-lost  origin. 

*T*  *T*  *T*  *T^  f 

He  hath  related  academic  things, 

And  paid  their  first  fruits  to  the  King  of  kings  ; 

And  Alma  Mater  that  just  favor, 


280  COTTON    MATHER. 

To  shew  sal  gentium  hath  not  lost  its  savor. 

He  writes  like  an  historian,  and  divine, 

Of  Churches,  Synods,  Faith,  and  Discipline. 

The  stuff  is  true,  the  trimming  neat  and  spruce, 
The  workman's  good,  the  work  of  public  use  ; 
Most  piously  designed,  a  public  store. 
And  well  deserves  the  public  thanks,  and  more. 

UPON    THE    DEATH    OF    SIR    WILLIAM 
PHIPS,    KNT. 

Late  Captain  General  and  Governotjr  in  Chief 
of  the  Province  of  the  Massachuset-bay  in 
New-England,  who  expired  at  London,  Feb. 
1694-1695. 

And  to  Mortality  a  sacrifice 

Falls  he,  whose  deeds  must  him  immortalize  ! 

Rejoice,  Messieurs  ;   Netops  rejoice  ;   'tis  true, 
Ye  Philistines,  none  will  rejoice  but  you  : 
Loving  of  all  he  dy'd  ;   who  love  him  not 
Now,  have  the  grace  of  publicans  forgot. 
Our  Almanacks  foretold  a  great  eclipse, 
This  they  foresaw  not,  of  our  greater  Phips. 
Phips  our  great  friend,  our  wonder,  and  our  glory, 
The  terror  of  our  foes,  the  world's  rare  story. 
England  will  boast  him  too  whose  noble  mind 
[mpell'd  by  Angels,  did  those  treasures  find, 
Long  in  the  bottom  of  the  ocean  laid, 
Which  her  three  hundred  thousand  richer  made, 
8y  silver  yet  ne'er  canker' d,  nor  defil'd 


DEATH    OF    SIR   WILLIAM    PH1PS.      28 1 

By  Honor,  nor  betray' d  when  Fortune  smil'd. 
Since  this  bright  Phcebus  visited  our  shore, 
We  saw  no  fogs  but  what  were  rais'd  before  : 
Those  vanish' d  too  ;   harass' d  by  bloody  wars 
Our  land  saw  peace,  by  his  most  generous  cares. 
The  wolvish  Pagans  at  his  dreaded  name, 
Tam'd,  shrunk  before  him,  and  his  dogs  became  ! 
Fell  Moxus  and  fierce  Dockawando  fall, 
Charm' d  at  the  feet  of  our  brave  general. 

*  *  *  *  # 
Stout  to  a  prodigy  :  living  in  pain 

To  send  back  Quebec-bullets  once  again. 
Thunder,  his  music,  sweeter  than  the  spheres, 
Chim'd  roaring  canons  in  his  martial  ears. 
Frigates  of  armed  men  could  not  withstand, 
'Twas  tried,  the  force  of  his  one  swrordless  hand  : 
Hand,  which  in  one,  all  of  Briareus  had, 
And  Hercules'  twelve  toils  but  pleasures  made. 

*  *  *  *  * 

Now  lest  ungrateful  brands  we  should  incur, 
Your  salary  we'll  pay  in  tears,  great  Sir  ! 

*f*  *fc  *yC  ^[^  ^ 

But  thou  chief  loser,  poor  New-England,  speak 
Thy  dues  to  such  as  did  thy  welfare  seek, 
The  governour  that  vow'd  to  rise  and  fall 
With  thee,  thy  fate  shows  in  his  funeral. 
Write  now  his  epitaph,  'twill  be  thine  own, 
Let  it  be  this,  A  PUBLIC  SPIRIT'S  GONE. 
Or,  but  name  PHI  PS  ;   more  needs  not  be  exprest  ; 
Both  Englands,  and  next  ages,  tell  the  rest. 


282  COTTON    MATHER. 


REMARKS. 

On  the  Bright  and  the  Dark  Side  of  that 
American  Pillar,  the  Reverend  Mr.  William 
Thompson  ;  Pastor  of  the  Church  at  Brain- 
tree.      Who  triumphed  on  Dec.  io,  1666. 

But  may  a  rural  pen  try  to  set  forth 

Such  a  great  father's  ancient  grace  and  worth  ! 

I  undertake  a  no  less  arduous  theme, 

Than  the  old  sages  found  the  Chaldee  dream. 

'Tis  more  than  Tithes  of  a  profound  respect, 

That  must  be  paid  such  a  Melchizedeck. 

Oxford  this  light,  with  tongues  and  arts  doth  trim  ; 
And  then  his  northern  town  doth  challenge  him. 
His  time  and  strength  he  center' d  there  in  this  ; 
To  do  good  work,  and  be  what  now  he  is. 
His  fulgent  virtues  there,  and  learned  strains, 
Tall,  comely  presence,  life  unsoil'd  with  stains, 
Things  most  on  worthies,  in  their  stories  writ, 
Did  him  to  moves  in  orbs  of  service  fit. 
Things  more  peculiar  yet,  my  muse,  intend, 
Say  stranger  things  than  these  ;  so  weep  and  end. 

When  he  forsook  first  his  Oxonian  cell, 
Some  scores  at  once  from  popish  darkness  fell ; 
So  this  reformer  studied  !  rare  first  fruits  ! 
Shaking  a  crab-tree  thus  by  hot  disputes, 
The  acid  juice  by  miracle  turned  wine, 
And  rais'd  the  spirits  of  our  young  divine. 
Hearers,  like  doves,  flock' d  with  contentious  wing, 


REMARKS.  283 

Who  should  be  first,  feed  most,  most  homeward  bring, 
Laden  with  honey,  like  Hybla?an  bees, 
They  knead  it  into  combs  upon  their  knees. 

Apollyon  owing  him  a  cursed  spleen 

Who  an  Apollos  in  the  church  had  been, 

Dreading  his  traffic  here  would  be  undone 

By  num'rous  proselytes  he  daily  won, 

Accus'd  him  of  imaginary  faults, 

And  push'd  him  down  so  into  dismal  vaults  : 

Vaults,  where  he  kept  long  Ember- weeks  of  grief, 

Till  Heaven  alarmed  sent  him  in  relief. 

Then  was  a  Daniel  in  the  lions'  den, 

A  man,  oh,  how  belov'd  of  God  and  men  ! 

By  his  bed-side  an  Hebrew  sword  there  lay, 

With  which  at  last  he  drove  the  devil  away. 

Quakers  too  durst  not  bear  his  keen  replies, 

But  fearing  it  half  drawn,  the  trembler  flies. 

Like  Lazarus,  new  rais'd  from  death,  appears 

The  saint  that  had  been  dead  for  many  years. 

Our  Nehemiah  said,  Shall  such  as  I 

Desert  my  flock,  and  like  a  coward  fly  ! 

Long  had  the  churches  begg'd  the  saint's  release  ; 

Releas'd  at  last,  he  dies  in  glorious  peace. 

The  night  is  not  so  long,  but  phosphor's  ray 

Approaching  glories  doth  on  high  display. 

Faith's  eye  in  him  discern' d  the  morning  star, 

His  heart  leap'd  ;  sure  the  sun  cannot  be  far. 

In  extasies  of  joy,  he  ravish' d  cries, 

Love,  love  the  lamb,  the  lamb  !  in  whom  he  dies. 


284  COTTON    MATHER. 

AN  "  ELEGANT  ELEGY  WHICH  MR.  SAM- 
UEL BACHE,  AN  INGENIOUS  MER- 
CHANT, MADE"  UPON  THE  REV. 
JOHN    WILSON. 

When  as  the  poor  want  succor,  where  is  he 

Can  say,  all  can  be  said,  extempore  ? 

Vie  with  the  lightning,  and  melt  down  to  th'  quick 

Their  souls,  and  make  themselves  their  pockets  pick  ? 

Where's  such  a  leader,  thus  has  got  the  slight 

T'  teach  holy  hands  to  war,  fingers  to  fight  ; 

Their  arrow  hit  ?      Bowels  to  bowels  meant  it, 

God,  Christ,  and  saints,  accept,  but  Wilson  sent  it. 

Which  way  so  e'er  the  propositions  move, 

The  ergo  of  his  syllogism' s  love. 

So  bountiful  to  all  :  but  if  the  poor 

Was  christian  too,  all's  money  went,  and  more, 

His  coat,  rug,  blanket,  gloves  ;  he  thought  their  due 

Was  all  his  money,  garments,  one  of  two. 

UPON    THE    VERY    REVEREND    SAMUEL 
WHITING. 

By  Benjamin  Thompson. 

Mount  fame,  the  glorious  chariot  of  the  sun  ; 
Through  the  world's  cirque,   all   you,   her   heralds, 

run  : 
And  let  this  great  saint's  merits  be  reveal' d, 
Which,  during  life,  he  studiously  conceal' d. 
Cite  all  the  Levites,  fetch  the  sons  of  art, 


AN    ELEGANT   ELEGY.  285 

In  these  our  dolours  to  sustain  a  part. 
Warn  all  that  value  worth,  and  every  one 
Within  their  eyes  to  bring  an  Helicon. 
For  in  this  single  person  we  have  lost 
More  riches,  than  an  India  has  engrost. 

When  Wilson,  that  plerophory  of  love, 
Did  from  our  banks,  up  to  his  center  move, 
Rare  Whiting  quotes  Columbus  on  this  coast, 
Producing  gems,  of  which  a  king  might  boast. 
More  splendid  far  than  ever  Aaron  wore, 
Within  his  breast,  this  sacred  father  bore. 
Sound  doctrine  Urim,  in  his  holy  cell, 
And  all  perfections  Thummim  there  did  dwell. 
His  holy  vesture  was  his  innocence, 
His  speech  embroideries  of  curious  sense. 
Such  awful  gravity  this  doctor  us'd, 
As  if  an  angel  every  word  infus'd. 

No  turgent  style,  but  Asiatic  store  ; 

Conduits  were  almost  full,  seldom  run  o'er 

The  banks  of  Time  :   come  visit  when  you  will, 

The  streams  of  nectar  were  descending  still  : 

Much  like  Septemfluous  Nilus,  rising  so, 

He  watered  christians  round,  and  made  them  grow. 

His  modest  whispers  could  the  conscience  reach, 

As  well  as  whirlwinds,  which  some  others  preach  ; 

No  Boanerges,  yet  could  touch  the  heart, 

And  clench  his  doctrine  by  the  meekest  art. 

His  learning  and  his  language,  might  become 

A  province  not  inferior  to  Rome. 

Glorious  was  Europe's  heaven  when  such  as  these 

Stars  of  his  size,  shone  in  each  diocese. 

.;'.  3|C  ,  ,(  JfS  5j»  *J» 


SAMUEL    SEWALL. 

Samuel  Sewall,  whose  Diary  has  done  more  than 
any  other  book  to  make  the  intimate  life  of  New- 
England,  toward  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  and  in 
the  early  decades  of  the  eighteenth  century,  familiar  to 
modern  readers,  was  born  in  Bishopstoke,  England, 
in  1652  and  died  in  Boston,  Massachusetts,  in  1730. 
He  was  brought  to  New  England  in  youth,  entered 
Harvard  at  fifteen,  took  his  Bachelor's  and  Master's  de- 
grees in  due  course,  studied  Divinity  and  had  entered 
on  the  ministry,  when  his  marriage  in  1677  diverted 
him  from  this  career  and  turned  him  to  public  life,  in 
which  his  father-in-law,  John  Hull,  held  offices  of 
trust  and  distinction.  He  first  took  charge  of  the 
Colonial  Printing  Press,  but  in  1684  was  chosen 
Assistant  Governor,  and  in  1688  spent  a  year  in 
England.  On  his  return  he  was  again  chosen  Assist- 
ant Governor,  and  in  1692  Member  of  the  Council 
and  Judge  of  the  Probate  Court.  This  brought  him 
into  prominence  in  the  Salem  Witchcraft  Trials, 
into  which  he  entered  with  conscientious  zeal  for  the 
fulfilment  of  duty,  but  soon  after,  having  convinced 
himself  of  error,  was  the  only  one  of  the  judges  im- 
plicated in  that  affair  who  confessed  publicly  his  mis- 
take in  what  was  then  called  a  (t  Bill,"  read  before 
the  congregation  of  the  Old  South  Church  by  the 
minister  in  January  of  1697,  Sewall  himself  remaining 
286 


SAMUEL    SEWALL.  287 

standing  in  his  pew  during  the  reading.  Till  the 
end  of  his  life,  for  thirty-one  years,  he  set  apart  annu- 
ally a  day  of  fasting,  meditation,  and  prayer  in  token 
of  his  offence,  and  it  seems  to  have  had  a  permanent 
effect  upon  his  character.  In  1 699  the  English  Society 
for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  made  him  a  Com- 
missioner and  afterward  their  Secretary  and  Treasurer 
for  New  England.  In  1  700  he  issued  what  seems  to 
be  the  first  American  anti-slavery  tract  The  Selling  of 
Joseph,  and  this  was  but  indicative  of  a  sympathy  with 
the  oppressed  that  characterized  a  benevolent  and  chari- 
table career.  For  ten  years,  from  1718  to  1728,  he 
was  Chief  Justice  of  Massachusetts.  During  his  lifetime 
he  published  only  four  small  treatises,  The  Selling  of 
Joseph,  The  Accomplishment  of  Prophecies,  in  1 7 1  3  ; 
a  Memorial  relating  to  the  Kennebec  Indians,  in  1  72 1 , 
and  a  Description  of  the  New  Heaven  (1727). 
Eclipsing  all  these  in  importance  and  interest  are  the 
Diary,  and  the  Letters  published  by  the  Mass.  Hist. 
Soc.  (187 8- 1882).  They  exhibit  a  man  of  high 
ability  and  sterling  character,  certainly  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  men  of  his  generation  in  New  England, 
and  they  show  also  the  political,  civil,  and  social  life 
of  the  times,  as  only  the  minute  diary  of  a  man  of 
judicious  temper  and  the  widest  social  and  civic  oppor- 
tunity could  do. 

Of  SewalPs  character  the  Boston  Weekly  Newsletter 
of  January  8th,  1730,  said  :  "  He  was  universally  and 
greatly  reverenced,  esteemed,  and  beloved  amongst 
us  for  his  eminent  piety,  learning,  and  wisdom  ;  his 
grave  and  venerable  aspect  and  carriage  ;  his  instruc- 
tive, affable,  and  cheerful  conversation  ;  his  strict  in- 
tegrity and  regard  to  justice  ;  his  extraordinary  tender 


288  SAMUEL    SEWALL. 

and  compassionate  heart  ;  his  neglect  of  the  world  ; 
his  abundant  liberality  ;  his  catholic  and  public  spirit  ; 
his  critical  acquaintance  with  the  Scriptures  in  their 
inspired  originals  ;  his  zeal  for  the  purity  of  instituted 
worship  ;  his  constant,  diligent,  and  reverent  attend- 
ance in  it,  both  in  the  church  and  family  ;  his  love 
for  the  churches,  people,  and  ministers,  the  civil  and 
religious  interest  of  this  country  ;  his  tender  concern 
for  the  aboriginal  natives  ;  and  as  the  crown  of  all, 
his  moderation,  peaceableness,  and  humility  ;  which, 
being  all  united  in  the  same  person,  and  in  an  high 
degree  and  station,  rendered  him  one  of  the  most  shin- 
ing lights  and  honors  of  the  age  and  land  wherein  he 
lived,  and  worthy  of  a  very  distinguished  regard  in 
the  New  English  Histories."- — {Sewall  Papers, 
Vol.    III.   p.    410.) 


FROM  THE  DIARY  OF  SAMUEL  SEWALL. 

Discipline  at  Harvard  College. 

Monday,  June  15,  1674.  .  .  .  Thomas  Sar- 
geant  was  examined  by  the  Corporation  :  finally, 
the  advice  of  Mr.  Danforth,  Mr.  Stoughton,  Mr. 
Thatcher,  Mr.  Mather  (then  present)  was  taken. 
This  was  his  sentence. 

That  being  convicted  of  speaking  blasphemous 
words  concerning  the  H.  G.  he  should  be  therefore 
publicly  whipped  before  all  the  Scholars.  2.  That 
he  should  be  suspended  as  to  taking  his  degree  of 
Bachelor  (this  sentence  read  before  him  twice  at  the 
Prts.  before  this  committee,  and   in  the  library  1    up 


DIARY   OF   SAMUEL   SEWALL.        289 

before  execution.)  3.  Sit  alone  by  himself  in  the 
Hall  uncovered  at  meals,  during  the  pleasure  of  the 
President  and  Fellows,  and  be  in  all  things  obedient, 
doing  what  exercise  was  appointed  him  by  the  Presi- 
dent, or  else  be  finally  expelled  from  the  College. 
The  first  was  presently  put  in  execution  in  the  Li- 
brary (Mr.  Danforth  Jr.  being  present)  before  the 
Scholars.  He  kneeled  down  and  the  instrument 
Goodman  Hely  attended  the  President's  word  as  to 
the  performance  of  his  part  in  the  work.  Prayer 
was  had  before  and  after  by  the  President.  July  1, 
1674.  $'lr  Thatcher  commonplaced,  Justification  was 
his  head.  He  had  a  good  solid  piece  :  stood  above 
an  hour  and  yet  brake  off  before  he  came  to  any  use. 
By  reason  that  there  was  no  warning  given,  none 
(after  the  undergraduates)  were  present,  save  Mr. 
Dan  Gookin,  Sr.,  the  President  and  myself.  July 
3,  1674.  N.B.  Mr.  Gookin,  Jr.,  was  gone  a  fish- 
ing with  his  brothers. 

April  4,  1675,  Sab.  day.  I  holp  preach  for  my 
Master  (Mr.  Parker)  in  the  afternoon.  Being  afraid 
to  look  on  the  glass,  ignorantly  and  unwillingly  I  stood 
two  hours  and  a  half. 

The  Pangs  of  Despised  Love. 

Saturday  Even.  Aug.  12,  1676,  just  as  prayer 
ended  Tim.  Dwight  sank  down  in  a  swoon,  and  for 
a  good  space  was  as  if  he  perceived  not  what  was 
done  to  him  :  after,  kicked  and  sprawled,  knocking 
his  hands  and  feet  upon  the  floor  like  a  distracted  man. 
Was  carried  pickpack  to  bed  by  John  Alcock,  there 


290  SAMUEL   SEWALL. 

his  clothes  pulled  off.  In  the  night  it  seems  he  talked 
of  ships,  his  master,  father  and  uncle  Eliot.  The 
Sabbath  following  Father  went  to  him,  spake  to  him 
to  know  what  ailed  him,  asked  if  he  would  be  prayed 
for,  and  for  what  he  would  desire  his  friends  to  pray. 
He  answered,  for  more  sight  of  sin,  and  God's  heal- 
ing grace.  I  asked  him,  being  alone  with  him,  whether 
his  troubles  were  from  some  outward  cause  or  spiritual. 
He  answered,  spiritual.  I  asked  him  why  then  he 
could  not  tell  it  his  master,  as  well  as  any  other,  since 
it  is  the  honor  of  any  man  to  see  sin  and  be  sorry  for  it. 
He  gave  no  answer,  as  I  remember.  Asked  him  if  he 
would  go  to  meeting.  He  said,  'twas  in  vain  for 
him  ;  his  day  was  out.  I  asked,  what  day  ;  he  an- 
swered, of  Grace.  I  told  him  'twas  sin  for  any  one 
to  conclude  themselves  reprobate,  that  this  was  all 
one.  He  said  he  would  speak  more,  but  could  not, 
&c.  Notwithstanding  all  this  semblance  (and  much 
more  than  is  written)  of  compunction  for  sin,  'tis  to 
be  feared  that  his  trouble  arose  from  a  maid  whom  he 
passionately  loved  :  for  that  when  Mr.  Dwight  and 
his  master  had  agreed  to  let  him  go  to  her,  he  eft- 
soons  grew  well. 

Spiritual  Lessons  in  Chicken  Food. 

Jan.  13,  1676/7.  Giving  my  chickens  meat,  it 
came  to  my  mind  that  I  gave  them  nothing  save  Indian 
corn  and  water,  and  yet  they  eat  it  and  thrived  very 
well,  and  that  that  food  was  necessary  for  them,  how 
mean  soever,  which  much  affected  me  and  convinced 
what  need  I  stood  in  of  spiritual  food,  and  that  I 
should  not  nauseate  daily  duties  of  prayer,  &c. 


DIARY   OF   SAMUEL   SEWALL.        29 1 

Regulations  of  the  South  Watch   Company 
of  Boston. 

(1679).  For  tne  better  inspection  of  the  several 
Watches  and  the  four  several  Guards  in  this  Town 
of  Boston.  It  is  ordered,  agreed  and  concluded  by 
the  Committee  of  Militia  for  the  said  Town,  that  the 
eight  Foot  Companies  by  their  Commission  Officers 
and  Sergeants  (being  seven  in  each  company)  or  for 
want  thereof,  or  by  reason  of  any  other  hindrance,  a 
sufficient  supply  be  made  at  the  discretion  of  the  rest 
of  the  Officers  of  said  Company  :  Also  the  Officers  of 
the  Troop  that  live  in  the  Town  (eight)  or  for  want 
thereof  to  be  supplied  of  their  troopers,  as  abovesaid  : 
which  said  sixty  four  men  shall  each  in  their  respec- 
tive turn  as  hereafter  mentioned  take  unto  them  one 
or  two  more  that  live  in  the  Precincts  of  their  own 
Company  who  shall  walk  every  night  (in  their  sev- 
eral turn)  throughout  the  Town  in  every  Quarter, 
and  shall  take  inspection  of  the  several  Guards  and 
Watches,  how  they  are  managed,  and  give  such  direc- 
tions as  to  them  shall  seem  meet  for  the  better  dis- 
charge of  their  duty  according  to  law.  Taking  the 
care  and  charge  of  all  the  Watches  in  the  Town  in 
their  respective  nights  ;  Who  shall  march  with  an 
half  pike  with  a  fair  head,  by  which  he  may  be 
known  to  the  Commander  of  the  Watch  and  in  the 
morning  leave  the  same  with  him  whose  turn  is  next, 
which  shall  be  accounted  a  sufficient  warning  or  notice 
to  the  next  Commander  to  take  his  turn. 


292  SAMUEL   SEWALL. 

HOW    THEY    KEPT    CHRISTMAS    DaY. 

Dec.  25.  Friday,  1685.  Carts  come  to  Town  and 
shops  open  as  is  usual.  Some  somehow  observe  the 
day  ;  but  are  vexed  I  believe  that  the  body  of  the 
people  profane  it,  and  blessed  be  God  no  authority 
yet  to  compell  them  to  keep  it.  A  great  snow  fell 
last  night  so  this  day  and  night  very  cold. 

Puritan  Hostility  to  Anglican  Worship. 

Saturday,  June  23,  1688.  Capt.  Frary  and  I 
go  to  his  Excellency  at  the  Secretaries,  Office,  and 
there  desired  that  he  would  not  alter  his  time  of 
meeting,  and  that  Mr.  Willard  consented  to  no  such 
thing,  neither  did  he  count  that  'twas  in  his  power  so 
to  do.  Mr.  West  said  he  went  not  to  ask  Mr.  Wil- 
lard leave.  His  Excellency  asked  who  the  house 
[the  Old  South  Meeting  House]  belong' d  to  ;  we  told 
Him  the  title  to  the  House  was  on  record.  His 
Excellency  turned  to  Mr.  Graham  and  said  Mr.  At- 
torney we  will  have  that  look'd  into.  Governor  said 
if  Mr.  Willard  not  the  Parson,  so  great  an  Assembly 
must  be  considered.  We  said  he  was  master  of  the 
Assembly,  but  had  no  power  to  dispose  of  the  House, 
neither  had  others,  for  the  deed  expressed  the  use 
'twas  to  be  put  to.  Governor  complain' d  of  our  long 
staying  Sabbath-day  sennight  ;  said  'twas  the  Lord's 
Supper,  and  (he)  had  promised  to  go  to  some  other 
House  on  such  days  ;  Mr.  Randolph  said  he  knew 
of  no  such  promise,  and  the  Governor  seemed  angry 
and  said  he  would  not  so  break  his  word  for  all  the 
Massachusetts  Colony,  and  therefore,  to  avoid  mis- 


DIARY   OF   SAMUEL   SEWALL.        293 

takes,  must  give  in  writing  what  we  had  to  say  ;  we 
answered  Mr.  Randolph  brought  not  any  writing  to 
those  he  spake  to.  Governor  said  we  rent  off  from 
the  old  Church  against  the  Government,  and  the 
land  the  House  stood  on  was  bought  clandestinely, 
and  that  one  should  say  he  would  defend  the  work 
with  his  Company  of  soldiers.  Mention' d  folks  back- 
wardness to  give,  and  the  unreasonableness  ;  because 
if  any  stinking  filthy  thing  were  in  the  House  we 
would  give  something  to  have  it  carried  out,  but  would 
not  give  to  build  them  an  house  :  Said  came  from 
England  to  avoid  such  and  such  things,  therefore  could 
not  give  to  set  them  up  here  :  and  the  Bishops  would 
have  thought  strange  to  have  been  asked  to  contribute 
towards  setting  up  the  New-England  Churches.  Gov- 
ernor said  God  willing  they  would  begin  at  eight  in 
the  Morning  and  have  done  by  nine  :  we  said  'twould 
hardly  be  so  in  winter.  Mr.  Graham  said  if  they  had 
their  service  by  candle-light  what  was  that  to  any  : 
And  that  the  service  appointed  by  the  Church  for 
morning  could  not  be  held  after  noon. 

Sabbath,  June  24.  We  read  and  sing  in  course 
the  57th  Psal.  Aitaschith.  They  (the  Church  of 
England  congregation)  have  done  before  nine  in  the 
morn,  and  about  a  quarter  after  one  in  the  afternoon  ; 
so  we  have  very  convenient  time. 

July  1.  Governor  takes  his  old  time  again  after 
our  coming  out,  and  Sir  William  Phips'  chaplain 
preaches.  We  were  a  little  hurried  and  disappointed 
in  the  morning  the  Bell  ringing  about  quarter  before 


294  SAMUEL   SEWALL. 

Domestic  Amenities  and  a  Catastrophe. 

Tuesday,  Jan.  12,  169 1/2.  .  .  .  This  night 
(blank)  Hamlen,  formerly  Plats,  before  that,  Crab- 
tree,  a  middle-aged  woman,  through  some  displeasure 
at  her  son,  whom  she  beat,  sat  not  down  to  supper 
with  her  husband  and  a  stranger  at  table  ;  when 
they  had  done,  she  took  away,  and  in  the  room 
where  she  set  it,  took  a  piece  of  grisly .  meat  of  a 
shoulder  of  mutton  into  her  mouth,  which  got  into 
the  top  of  the  larynx  and  stopt  it  fast,  so  she  was 
presently  choked.  Tho.  Pemberton  and  others 
found  it  so  when  they  opened  her  throat.  She 
gave  a  stamp  with  her  foot  and  put  her  finger  in  her 
mouth  :  but  Pemberton  not  at  home,  and  died  imme- 
diately. What  need  have  all  to  acknowledge  God 
in  whose  hand  their  breath  is,  &c. 

Comfort  in  Tribulation. 

Saturday,  Feb.  27,  169 1/2.  Between  4.  and 
5.  mane,  we  are  startled  at  the  roaring  of  a  beast, 
which  I  conjectur'd  to  be  an  ox  broken  loose  from 
a  butcher,  running  along  the  street,  but  proved  to  be 
our  own  Cow  bitten  by  a  dog,  so  that  were  forc'd 
to  kill  her  ;  though  calved  but  Jan.  4th  and  gives 
plenty  of  milk.  Happy  are  they,  who  have  God 
for  their  Spring  and  Breast  of  Supplies.  Exceeding 
high  wind  this  day  at  North  East. 

Notes  on  the  Witchcraft  Persecution. 

April  nth,  1692.  Went  to  Salem,  where,  in 
the   Meeting-house,   the  persons  accused  of  Witch- 


DIARY   OF   SAMUEL   SEWALL.        295 

craft  were  examined  ;  was  a  very  great  Assembly  ; 
'  twas  awful  to  see  how  the  afflicted  persons  were 
agitated.  Mr.  Noyes  pray'd  at  the  beginning,  and 
Mr.  Higginson  concluded.  {In  the  margin^)  Vae, 
Vae,   Vae,   Witchcraft. 

Augt.  19th,  1692.  .  .  .  This  day  {in  the  mar- 
gin, Doleful  Witchcraft)  George  Burrough,  John 
Willard,  Jno.  Procter,  Martha  Carrier,  and  George 
Jacobs  were  executed  at  Salem,  a  very  great  number 
of  spectators  being  present.  Mr.  Cotton  Mather 
was  there,  Mr.  Sims,  Hale,  Noyes,  Chiever  &c. 
All  of  them  said  they  were  innocent,  Carrier  and  all. 
Mr.  Mather  said  they  all  died  by  a  righteous  sen- 
tence. Mr.  Burrough  by  his  speech,  prayer,  pro- 
testation of  his  innocence,  did  much  move  unthinking 
persons,  which  occasions  their  speaking  hardly  con- 
cerning his  being  executed. 

Monday,  Sept.  19,  1692.  About  noon,  at  Salem, 
Giles  Corey  was  press'd  to  death  for  standing  mute  ; 
much  pains  were  used  with  him  two  days,  one  after 
another,  by  the  Court  and  Capt.  Gardner  of  Nan- 
tucket who  had  been  of  his  acquaintance  ;   but  all  in 


Sept.  20.  Now  I  hear  from  Salem  that  about  1 8 
years  ago,  he  was  suspected  to  have  stamped  and 
press' d  a  man  to  death,  but  was  cleared.  'Twas 
not  remembered  till  Anne  Putnam  was  told  of  it  by 
Corey's  spectre  the  Sabbath-day  night  before  the 
execution. 


2g6  SAMUEL   SEWALL. 

Sept.  21,  1692.  A  petition  is  sent  to  Town 
in  behalf  of  Dorcas  Hoar  who  now  confesses  :  Ac- 
cordingly an  order  is  sent  to  the  Sheriff  to  forbear 
her  execution,  notwithstanding  her  being  in  the 
warrant  to  die  to-morrow.  This  is  the  first  con- 
demned person  who  has  confess' d. 

1696/7.  (Petition  put  up  by  Mr.  Sewall  on  the 
Fast  Day.) 

Copy  of  the  Bill  I  put  up  on  the  Fast  day ;  giv- 
ing it  to  Mr.  Willard  as  he  pass'd  by,  and  standing 
up  at  the  reading  of  it,  and  bowing  when  finished  ;  in 
the  Afternoon. 

Samuel  Sewall,  sensible  of  the  reiterated  strokes  of 
God  upon  himself  and  family  ;  and  being  sensible, 
that  as  to  the  guilt  contracted  upon  the  opening  of 
the  late  Commission  of  Oyer  and  Terminer  at  Salem 
(to  which  the  order  for  this  Day  relates),  he  is,  upon 
many  accounts,  more  concerned  than  any  that  he 
knows  of,  Desires  to  take  the  blame  and  shame  of  it, 
Asking  pardon  of  men,  And  especially  desiring  prayers 
that  God,  who  has  an  unlimited  authority,  would 
pardon  that  sin  and  all  other  sins  ;  personal  and  rela- 
tive ;  And,  according  to  his  infinite  benignity  and 
sovereignty,  not  visit  the  sin  of  him,  or  of  any  other, 
upon  himself  or  any  of  his,  nor  upon  the  land  :  But 
that  He  would  powerfully  defend  him  against  all 
temptations  to  sin,  for  the  future ;  and  vouchsafe 
him  the  efficacious,  saving  conduct  of  his  Word  and 
Spirit. 


DIARY    OF   SAMUEL   SEWALL.        297 

Young  Joseph  and  the  Old  Adam. 

Nov.  6,  1692.  Joseph  threw  a  knop  of  brass 
and  hit  his  Sister  Betty  on  the  forehead  so  as  to  make 
it  bleed  and  swell  ;  upon  which,  and  for  his  playing 
at  Prayer-time,  and  eating  when  Return  Thanks,  I 
whipped  him  pretty  smartly.  When  I  first  went  in 
(called  by  his  Grandmother)  he  sought  to  shadow 
and  hide  himself  from  me  behind  the  head  of  the 
cradle  :  which  gave  me  the  sorrowful  remembrance 
of  Adam's  carriage. 


A  Critic  Criticised. 

Sept.  10,  1696.  Letter.  Mrs.  Martha  Oakes. 
Not  finding  opportunity  to  speak  with  you  at  your 
house,  nor  at  my  own,  I  write  to  persuade  you  to  be 
sensible  that  your  striking  your  daughter-in-law  before 
me,  in  my  house,  is  not  justifiable  :  though  'twas  but 
a  small  blow,  'twas  not  a  small  fault  :  especially  con- 
sidering your  promise  to  refrain  from  speech  itself; 
or  at  least  any  that  might  give  disturbance.  As  for 
New  England,  it  is  a  cleaner  country  than  ever  you 
were  in  before,  and,  therefore,  with  disdain  to  term 
\\  filthy  is  a  sort  of  blasphemy,  which,  by  proceeding 
out  of  your  mouth,  hath  defiled  you.  I  write  not 
this  to  upbraid,  but  to  admonish  you,  with  whom  I 
sympathize  under  your  extraordinary  provocations 
and  pressures ;  and  pray  God  command  you  freedom 
from  them.      S.  S, 


298  SAMUEL   SEWALL. 


Night  Thoughts  of  Harvard. 

Jan.    26,    1696.  I  lodged  at  Charlestown  at 

Mrs.  Shepard's,  who  tells  me  Mr.  Harvard  built  that 
house.  I  lay  in  the  chamber  next  the  street.  As  I 
lay  awake  past  midnight,  in  my  meditation,  I  was 
affected  to  consider  how  long  ago  God  had  made 
provision  for  my  comfortable  lodging  that  night  ;  see- 
ing that  was  Mr.  Harvard's  house  :  And  that  led  me 
to  think  of  Heaven  the  House  not  made  with  hands, 
which  God  for  many  thousands  of  years  has  been 
storing  with  the  richest  furniture  (saints  that  are  from 
time  to  time  placed  there),  and  that  I  had  some  hopes 
of  being  entertained  in  that  magnificent  convenient 
Palace,  every  way  fitted  and  furnished.  These 
thoughts  were  very  refreshing  to  me. 

Thoughts  on  Slavery. 

Fourth-day,  June  19,  1700.  .  .  .  Having  been 
long  and  much  dissatisfied  with  the  trade  of  fetching 
Negroes  from  Guinea  ;  at  last  I  had  a  strong  inclina- 
tion to  write  something  about  it  ;  but  it  wore  off. 
At  last  reading  Bayne,  Ephes.  about  servants,  who 
mentions  Blackamoors  ;  I  began  to  be  uneasy  that  I 
had  so  long  neglected  doing  anything.  When  I  was 
thus  thinking,  in  came  Bro.  Belknap  to  show  me  a 
petition  he  intended  to  present  to  Gen1  Court  for 
the  freeing  of  a  Negro  and  his  wife,  who  were 
unjustly  held  in  bondage.  And  there  is  a  motion 
by  a  Boston  Committee  to  get  a  law  that  all  im- 
porters of  Negroes  shall  pay  401  per  head,  to  dis- 
courage the  bringing  of  them.      And  Mr.  C.  Mather 


DIARY  OF   SAMUEL    SEWALL         299 

resolves  to  publish  a  sheet  to  exhort  masters  to  labor 
their  conversion.  Which  makes  me  hope  that  I  was 
called  of  God  to  write  this  apology  for  them.  Let 
his  blessing  accompany  the  same. 

Speech  at  his   Mother's  Grave. 

Jany.  4th,  1 700/1.  .  .  .  Went  abt.  4  p.m. 
Nathan1  Bricket  taking  in  hand  to  fill  the  grave,  I 
said,  Forbear  a  little,  and  suffer  me  to  say  that  amidst 
our  bereaving  sorrows  we  have  the  comfort  of  be- 
holding this  saint  put  into  the  rightful  possession  of 
that  happiness  of  living  desir'd  and  dying  lamented. 
She  liv'd  commendably  four  and  fifty  years  with  her 
dear  husband,  and  my  dear  father  :  And  she  could 
not  well  brook  the  being  divided  from  him  at  her 
death  ;  which  is  the  cause  of  our  taking  leave  of  her 
in  this  place.  She  was  a  true  and  constant  lover  of 
God's  Word,  worship  and  saints  :  And  she  always, 
with  a  patient  cheerfulness,  submitted  to  the  divine 
decree  of  providing  bread  for  her  self  and  others  in 
the  sweat  of  her  brows.  And  now  her  infinitely 
gracious  and  bountiful  Master  has  promoted  her  to 
the  honor  of  higher  employments,  fully  and  abso- 
lutely discharged  from  all  manner  of  toil  and  sweat. 
My  honored  and  beloved  Friends  and  Neighbors  ! 
My  dear  mother  never  thought  much  of  doing  the 
most  frequent  and  homely  offices  of  love  for  me  :  and 
lavished  away  many  thousands  of  words  upon  me, 
before  I  could  return  one  word  in  answer  :  And 
therefore  I  ask  and  hope  that  none  will  be  offended 
that  I  have  now  ventured  to  speak  one  word  in  her 
behalf;    when    she    herself   has    become    speechless. 


300  SAMUEL    SEWALL. 

Made  a  motion  with  my  hand  for  the  filling  of  the 
grave.  Note.  I  could  hardly  speak  for  passion 
and  tears. 


Judge  Sewall  elected  Captain  of  the  Artillery 
Company. 

Monday,  June  2,  1701.  Mr.  Pemberton  preaches 
the  Artillery  Sermon  from  Luke,  3-14.  Dine  at 
Monk's.  Because  of  the  rain  and  mist,  this  day, 
the  election  is  made  upon  the  Town-house,  Sewall, 
Capt.  :  Tho.  Hutchinson,  Lieut.  ;  Tho.  Savage, 
junr,  Ensign.  ;  Tho.  Fitch.  1  Sergt.  ;  Oliver  Noyes 
2  :  Hab.  Savage  3  ;  Charles  Chauncy  4.  Called 
down  the  Council  out  of  the  Chamber,  set  their 
chairs  below  ;  Col.  Pynchon  gave  the  Staves  and 
Ensign.  I  said  was  surprised  to  see  they  had  mis- 
taken a  sorry  pruning  hook  for  a  military,  spear  ;  but 
paid  such  a  deference  to  the  Company  that  would  rather 
run  the  venture  of  exposing  my  own  inability  than 
give  any  occasion  to  suspect  I  slighted  their  call.  To 
Serg*  Fitch,  Doubted  not  but  if  I  could  give  any 
thing  tolerable  words  of  command,  he  would  mend 
them  in  a  vigorous  and  speedy  performance  :  was 
glad  of  so  good  a  hand  to  me  and  the  Company 
(Mr.  Noyes  abroad  in  the  Gaily).  To  Hab  Sav- 
age] ,  The  savages  are  soldiers  ex  traduce ;  in  imita- 
tion of  his  honored  father,  uncle  and  grandfather, 
hoped  for  worthy  performance  from  him.  To  Ch. 
Chauncy,  Had  such  a  honor  for  your  grandfather 
and  father  that  was  glad  was  joind  with  me  in  this 
relation.  Drew  out  before  Mr.  Usher's,  gave  3 
volleys.      Drew  into  Townhouse  again  ;   sent    Serg* 


DIARY    OF    SAMUEL    SEWALL.        301 

Chauncy  for  Mr.  Pemberton,  who  said  he  was  glad 
to  see  the  staff  in  my  hands  ;  pray'd  with  us.  Had 
the  company  to  my  house,  treated  them  with  bread, 
beer,  wine  sillibub.  —  They  ordered  Capt.  Checkly 
and  me  to  thank  Mr.  Pemberton  for  his  sermon, 
which  we  did  on  Tuesday,  desiring  a  copy.  June  4. 
Bror  comes  to  Town,  I  treat  him  at  Plyes  :  goes  home. 

The  Casuistry  of  the  Wig. 

Tuesday,  June  10th  Having  last  night  heard  that 
Josiah  Willard  had  cut  off  his  hair  (a  very  full  head 
of  hair)  and  put  on  a  wig,  I  went  to  him  this  morn- 
ing. Told  his  mother  what  I  came  about,  and  she 
called  him.  I  inquired  of  him  what  extremity  had 
forced  him  to  put  off  his  own  hair,  and  put  on  a 
wig  ?  He  answered,  none  at  all.  But  said  that 
his  hair  was  straight  and  that  it  parted  behind. 
Seemed  to  argue  that  men  might  as  well  shave  their 
hair  off  their  head,  as  off  their  face.  I  answered 
men  were  men  before  they  had  hair  on  their  faces, 
(half  of  mankind  never  have  any).  God  seems  to 
have  ordained  our  hair  as  a  test,  to  see  whether  we 
can  bring  our  minds  to  be  content  to  be  at  his  find- 
ing :  or  whether  we  would  be  our  own  carvers, 
lords,  and  come  no  more  at  him.  If  disliked  our 
skin,  our  nails  ;  'tis  no  thanks  to  us,  that  for  all 
that,  we  cut  them  not  off:  Pain  and  danger  restrain 
us.  Your  calling  is  to  teach  men  self  denial. 
Twill  be  most  displeasing  and  burdensome  to  good 
men  :  And  they  that  care  not  what  men  think  of 
them  care  not  what  God  thinks  of  them.  Father, 
Bror  Simon,    Mr.    Pemberton,    Mr.    Wigglesworth, 


J02  SAMUEL   SEWALL. 

Oakes,  Noyes  (Oliver),  Brattle  of  Cambridge,  their 
example.  Allow  me  to  be  so  far  a  Censor  Morum 
for  this  end  of  the  Town.  Pray'd  him  to  read  the 
Tenth  Chapter  of  the  Third  book  of  Calvin's  Insti- 
tutions. I  read  it  this  morning  in  course,  not  of 
choice.  Told  him  it  was  condemned  by  a  Meeting 
of  Ministers  at  Northampton  in  Mr.  Stoddard's  house, 
when  the  said  Josiah  was  there.  Told  him  of  the 
Solemnity  of  the  Covenant  which  he  and  I  had  lately 
entered  into,  which  put  me  upon  discoursing  to  him. 
He  seemed  to  say  he  would  leave  off  his  wig  when 
his  hair  was  grown.  I  spake  to  his  father  of  it  a 
day  or  two  after  :  He  thank' d  me  that  had  discoursed 
his  son,  and  told  me  that  when  his  hair  was  grown 
to  cover  his  ears,  he  promised  to  leave  off"  his  wig. 
If  he  had  known  of  it  would  have  forbidden  him. 
His  mother  heard  him  talk  of  it ;  but  was  afraid 
positively  to  forbid  him  ;  lest  he  should  do  it,  and  so 
be  more  faulty.  <\ 

Training  Day  of    the   Ancient    and    Honorable 
Artillery. 

Monday,  Oct.  6,  1701.  Very  pleasant  fair 
weather  ;  Artillery  trains-  in  the  afternoon  (Sewall 
in  command).  March  with  the  Company  to  the 
Elms  ;  Go  to  prayer,  March  down  and  shoot  at  a 
mark.  Mr.  Cushing  I  think  was  the  first  that  hit  it.. 
Mr.  Gerrish  twice,  Mr.  Fitch,  Chauncy,  and  the 
Ensign  of  the  Officers.  By  far  the  most  missed,  as 
I  did  for  the  first.  Were  much  contented  with  the 
exercise.  Led  them  to  the  Trees  again,  performed 
some  facings  and  doublings.      Drew  them  together  - 


DIARY   OF   SAMUEL   SEWALL.        303 

propounded  the  question  about  the  Colours  ;  'twas 
voted  very  freely  and  fully.  I  informed  the  Com- 
pany I  was  told  the  Company's  halberds  &c.  were 
borrowed  ;  I  understood  the  leading  staff  was  so,  and 
therefore  asked  their  acceptance  of  a  half-pike,  which 
they  very  kindly  did  ;  I  delivered  it  to  Mr.  Gibbs  for 
their  use. 

They  would  needs  give  me  a  volley  in  token  of 
their  respect  on  this  occasion.  The  pike  will,  I 
suppose,  stand  me  in  forty  shillings,  being  headed  and 
shod  with  silver  :  Has  this  motto  fairly  engraven  : 

Agmen  Massachusettense 

est  in  tutelam  Sponsae 

AGNI  Uxoris 

1701 

The  Lord  help  us  to  answer  the  profession.  Were 
treated  by  the  Ensign  in  a  fair  chamber.  Gave  a 
very  handsome  volley  at  Lodging  the  Colors.  The 
training  in  Sept.  was  a  very  fair  day,  so  was  this. 

A  St.   George's  Day  Celebration   in  Boston. 

Tuesday,  Apr.  23,  1706.  Govr.  comes  to 
Town  guarded  by  the  troops  with  their  swords 
drawn  ;  dines  at  the  Dragon  from  thence  proceeds  to 
the  Townhouse,  illuminations  at  night.  Capt.  Pel- 
ham  tells  me  several  wore  crosses  in  their  hats  ;  which 
makes  me  resolve  to  stay  at  home  ;  (though  Maxwell 
was  at  my  House  and  spake  to  me  to  be  at  the  Coun- 
cil-Chamber at  4  p.  m.  )  Because  to  drinking  healths, 
now  the  keeping  of  a  day  to  fictitious  St.  George  is 
plainly  set  on  foot.      It  seems  Capt.   Dudley's  men 


304  SAMUEL   SEWALL. 

wore  crosses.  Somebody  had  fastened  a  cross  to  a 
dog's  head  ;  Capt.  Dudley's  boatswain  seeing  him, 
struck  the  dog,  and  then  went  into  the  shop,  next 
where  the  dog  was,  and  struck  down  a  carpenter, 
one  Davis,  as  he  was  at  work,  not  thinking  anything  : 
Boatswain  and  the  other  with  him  were  fined  10s 
each  for  breach  of  peace,  by  Jer.  Dummer,  Esqr.  : 
pretty  much  blood  was  shed  by  means  of  this  bloody 
cross,  and  the  poor  dog  a  sufferer. 

A   Colonial   Wedding. 

Octobr.  29,  1 71 3.  .  .  .  In  the  Evening  Mr. 
Ebenezer  Pemberton  marries  my  son  Joseph  Sevvall 
and  '  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Walley.  Wait  Winthrop  esqr. 
and  Lady,  Samuel  Porter  esqr.,  Edmund  Quinsey 
esqr.,  Ephriam  Savage  esqr.  and  wife,  Madam  Usher, 
Mr.  Mico  and  wife,  Jer.  Dummer  esqr.,  Cousin  Sam. 
Storke,  Cous.  Carter,  and  many  more  present.  Sung 
out  of  the  1  1  5th  Ps.  zi  staves  from  the  1  ith  to  the 
end.  W.  which  I  set.  Each  had  a  piece  of  cake  and 
sack-posset.  Mr.  Pemberton  craved  a  blessing  and 
returned  Thanks  at  eating  the  sack-posset.  Came 
away  between  9  and  10.  Daughter  Sewall  came  in 
the  coach  with  my  wife,  who  invited  her  to  come 
in  and  lodge  here  with  her  husband  ;  but  she  rcfus'd, 
and  said  she  had  promised  to  go  to  her  Sister  Wain- 
wright's  and  did  so. 

The  Love  Affairs  of  a  Chief  Justice. 

June  9,    1 71 8.    .    .    .    Mrs.   D n  came  in  the 

morning  about  nine  o'clock  and  I  took  her  up  into  my 


DIARY   OF    SAMUEL   SEWALL.        305 

chamber  and  discoursed  thoroughly  with  her  ;  She 
desired  me  to  provide  another  and  better  nurse.  I 
gave  her  the  two  last  News  Letters  —  told  her  I  in- 
tended to  visit  her  at  her  own  house  next  Lecture  Day. 
She  said  'twould  be  talked  of.  I  answered  :  Jn  such 
cases,  persons  must  run  the  gauntlet.  Gave  her  Mr. 
Whiting's  Oration  for  Abijah  Walter,  who  brought 
her  on  horseback  to  town.  I  think  little  or  no  notice 
was  taken  of  it. 

October  29,  1719.  Thanksgiving  Day  :  between 
6  and  7  Brother  Moody  &  I  went  to  Mrs.  Tilley's, 
and  about  7  or  8,  were  married  by  Mr.  J.  Sewall,  in 
the  best  room  below  stairs.  Mr.  Prince  prayed  the 
second  time.  Mr.  Adams  the  minister  at  Newington 
was  there,  Mr.  Oliver  and  Mr.  Timothy  Clark,  Jus- 
tices, and  many  more.  Sung  the  12,  13,  14,  15 
and  16  verses  of  the  90th  Psalm.  Cousin  S.  Sewall 
set  Low-Dutch  tune  in  a  very  good  key,  which  made 
the  singing  with  a  good  number  of  voices  very  agree- 
able.     Distributed  cake.    .    .    . 

Septr  5,  1720.  Mary  Hirst  goes  to  board  with 
Madam  Oliver  and  her  Mother  Loyd.  Going  to  Son 
Sewall' s  I  there  meet  with  Madam  Winthrop,  told 
her  I  was  glad  to  meet  her  there,  had  not  seen  her  a 
great  while  ;  gave  her  Mr.  Homes's  Sermon.    .    .    . 

7'  30.  Mr.  Colman's  Lecture  :  Daughter  Sewall 
acquaints  Madam  Winthrop  that  if  she  pleas' d  to  be 
within  at  3.  p.  m.  I  would  wait  on  her.  She  an- 
swer'd  she  would  be  at  home. 


306  SAMUEL   SEWALL. 

8r  I.  Saturday,  I  dine  at  Mr.  Stoddard's  :  from 
thence  I  went  to  Madam  Winthrop's  just  at  3.  Spake 
to  her,  saying,  my  loving  wife  died  so  soon  and  sud- 
denly, 'twas  hardly  convenient  for  me  to  think  of 
marrying  again  ;  however  I  came  to  this  resolution, 
that  I  would  not  make  my  court  to  any  person  with- 
out first  consulting  with  her.  Had  a  pleasant  dis- 
course about  7  [seven]  single  persons  sitting  in  the 
Fore-seat  yr  29th,  viz.  Madm  Rebekah  Dudley,  Catha- 
rine Winthrop,  Bridget  Usher,  Deliverance  Legg, 
Rebekah  Loyd,  Lydia  Colman,  Elizabeth  Bellingham. 
She  propounded  one  and  another  for  me  ;  but  none 
would  do,  said  Mrs.  Loyd  was  about  her  age. 

Octobf3.  Waited  on  Madam  Winthrop  again; 
'twas  a  little  while  before  she  came  in.  Her  daughter 
Noyes  being  there  alone  with  me,  I  said,  I  hoped  my 
waiting  on  her  mother  would  not  be  disagreeable  to 
her.  She  answer'd  she  should  not  be  against  that  that 
might  be  for  her  comfort.  I  saluted  her,  and  told 
her  I  perceiv'd  I  must  shortly  wish  her  a  good  time  ; 
(her  mother  had  told  me,  she  was  with  child,  and 
within  a  month  or  two  of  her  time).  By  and  by 
in  came  Mr.  Airs,  Chaplain  of  the  Castle,  and  hang'd 
up  his  hat,  which  I  was  a  little  startled  at,  it  seeming 
as  if  he  was  to  lodge  there.  At  last  Madam  Win- 
throp came  too.  After  a  considerable  time,  I  went 
up  to  her  and  said,  if  it  might  not  be  inconvenient  I 
desired  to  speak  with  her.  She  assented,  and  spake 
of  going  into  another  room  ;  but  Mr.  Airs  and  Mrs. 
Noyes  presently  rose  up,  and  went  out,  leaving  us 
there  alone.  Then  I  usher'd  in  discourse  from  the 
names  in  the  Fore-seat  ;  at  last  I  pray'd  that  Catha- 


DIARY   OF    SAMUEL   SEWALL.        307 

rine  [Mrs.  Winthrop]  might  be  the  person  assign' d 
for  me.  She  instantly  took  it  up  in  the  way  of 
denial,  as  if  she  had  catch' d  at  an  opportunity  to 
do  it,  saying  she  could  not  do  it  before  she  was  asked. 
Said  that  was  her  mind  unless  she  should  change  it, 
which  she  believed  she  should  not  ;  could  not  leave 
her  children.  I  express'd  my  sorrow  that  she  should 
do  it  so  speedily,  pray'd  her  consideration,  and  ask'd 
her  when  I  should  wait  on  her  again.  She  setting  on 
time,  I  mention' d  that  day  sennight.  Gave  her  Mr. 
Willard's  Fountain  Open'd  with  the  little  print  and 
verses  ;  saying,  I  hop'd  if  we  did  well  read  that  book, 
we  should  meet  together  hereafter,  if  we  did  not  now. 
She  took  the  book,  and  put  it  in  her  pocket.  Took 
leave. 

8f  5.  Midweek,  I  din'd  with  the  Court ;  from 
thence  went  and  visited  Cousin  Jonathan's  wife, 
lying  in  with  her  little  Betty.  Gave  the  Nurse  2? 
Although  I  had  appointed  to  wait  upon  her,  M!n 
Winthrop,  next  Monday,  yet  I  went  away  from  my 
Cousin  Sewall's  thither  about  3.  p.  m.  The  nurse 
told  me  Madam  dined  abroad  at  her  daughter 
Noyes's,  they  were  to  go  out  together.  I  ask'd  for 
the  maid,  who  was  not  within.  Gave  Katy  a 
penny  and  a  kiss,  and  came  away.  Accompanied 
my  son  and  daughter  Cooper  in  their  remove  to 
their  new  house.  Went  to  tell  Joseph,  and  Mr. 
Belcher  saw  me  by  the  South  Meetinghouse  though 
'twas  duskish,  and  said  I  had  been  at  house-warm- 
ing, (he  had  been  at  our  house).  Invited  me  to 
drmk  a  glass  of  wine  at  his  house  at  7.  and  eat  part 
01   the  pasty  provided  for  the  Commissioners'  voyage 


308  SAMUEL   SEWALL. 

to  Casco-Bav.  His  Excellency,  Madam  Belcher, 
S.  S.  Col.  Fitch,  Mr.  D.  Oliver,  Mr.  Anthony 
Stoddard,  M.  Welsteed,  Mr.  White,  Mr.  Belcher 
sat  down.  At  coming  home  gave  us  of  the  cake 
and  ginger-bread  to  carry  away.  'Twas  about 
ten  before  we  got  home  ;  Mr.  Oliver  and  I  waited 
on  the  Governour  to  his  gate  ;  and  then  Mr.  Oliver 
would  wait  on  me  home. 

8!"  6*.h  Lecture-day,  Mr.  Cutler,  President  of  the 
Connecticut  College,  preached  in  Dr.  C.  Mather's 
turn.  He  made  an  excellent  discourse  from  Heb. 
xi.  14.  For  they  that  say  such  things,  declare 
plainly  that  they  seek  a  country.  Bror  Odlin,  Son 
Sewall  of  Brooklin,  and  Mary  Hirst  dine  with  me. 
I  ask'd  Mary  of  Madam  Lord,  Mr.  Oliver  and  wife, 
and  bid  her  present  my  service  to  them.  8^  6th  A 
little  after  6.  p.  m.  I  went  to  Madam  Winthrop's. 
She  was  not  within.  I  gave  Sarah  Chickering  the 
maid  2s,  Juno,  who  brought  in  wood,  Is  Afterward 
the  nurse  came  in,  I  gave  her  1 8d,  having  no  other 
small  bill.  After  awhile  Dr.  Noyes  came  in  with 
his  mother  ;  and  quickly  after  his  wife  came  in  : 
They  sat  talking,  I  think,  till  eight  o'clock.  I  said 
I  fear'd  I  might  be  some  interruption  to  their  busi- 
ness :  Dr.  Noyes  reply' d  pleasantly  :  He  fear'd  they 
might  be  an  interruption  to  me,  and  went  away. 
Madam  seem'd  to  harp  upon  the  same  string.  Must 
take  care  of  her  children  ;  could  not  leave  that 
house  and  neighbourhood  where  she  had  dwelt  so 
long.  I  told  her  she  might  do  her  children  as  much 
or  more  good  by  bestowing  what  she  laid  out  in 
house-keeping,  upon  them,      Said  her  son  would  be 


DIARY   OF   SAMUEL   SEWALL.        309 

of  age  the  7th  of  August.  I  said  it  might  be  incon- 
venient for  her  to  dwell  with  her  daughter-in-law, 
who  must  be  mistress  of  the  house.  I  gave  her  a 
piece  of  Mr.  Belcher's  cake  and  ginger-bread 
wrapped  up  in  a  clean  sheet  of  paper  ;  told  her  of 
her  father's  kindness  to  me  when  Treasurer,  and  I 
Constable.  My  daughter  Judith  was  gone  from  me 
and  I  was  more  lonesome  —  might  help  to  forward 
one  another  in  our  journey  to  Canaan.  —  Mr.  Eyre 
came  within  the  door  ;  I  saluted  him,  ask'd  how 
Mr.  Clark  did,  and  he  went  away.  I  took  leave 
about  9  o'clock.  I  told  [her]  I  came  now  to  refresh 
her  memory  as  to  Monday-night  ;  said  she  had  not 
forgot  it.  In  discourse  with  her,  I  ask'd  leave  to 
speak  with  her  sister  ;  I  meant  to  gain  Madm  Mico's 
favour  to  persuade  her  sister.  She  seem'd  surpris'd 
and  displeas'd,  and  said  she  was  in  the  same  con- 
dition!  .    .    . 

In  the  evening  I  visited  Madam  Winthrop,  who 
treated  me  with  a  great  deal  of  courtesy  ;  wine, 
marmalade.  I  gave  her  a  News-Letter  about  the 
Thanksgiving  ;  Proposals,  for  sake  of  the  Verses  for 
David  Jeffries.  She  tells  me  Dr.  Increase  Mather 
visited  her  this  day,  in  Mr.  Hutchinson's  coach.    .    .    . 

8r  ii4!1  I  writ  a  few  Lines  to  Madam  Winthrop 
to  this  purpose  :  "  Madam,  These  wait  on  you  with 
Mr.  Mayhew's  Sermon,  and  Account  of  the  state  of 
the  Indians  on  Martha's  Vinvard.  I  thank  you  for 
your  unmerited  favours  of  yesterday  ;  and  hope  to 
have  the  happiness  of  waiting  on  you  to-morrow 
before  eight  o'clock  after  Noon.  I  pray  God  to 
keep   you,  and  give  you  a  joyful  entrance  upon   the 


310  SAMUEL    SEWALL. 

two  hundred  and  twenty-ninth  year  of  Christopher 
Columbus  his  Discovery  ;  and  take  leave,  who  am, 
Madam,  your  humble  Serv*  S.  S." 

.  .  .  8?  12.  Mrs.  Anne  Cotton  came  to  door 
('twas  before  8.)  said  Madam  Winthrop  was  within, 
directed  me  into  the  little  room,  where  she  was  full 
of  work  behind  a  stand  ;  Mrs.  Cotton  came  in  and 
stood.  Madam  Winthrop  pointed  to  her  to  set  me 
a  chair.  Madam  Winthrop' s  countenance  was 
much  changed  from  what  'twas  on  Monday,  look'd 
dark  and  lowering.  At  last,  the  work,  (black  stuff 
or  silk)  was  taken  away,  I  got  my  chair  in  place, 
had  some  converse,  but  very  cold  and  indifferent  to 
what  'twas  before  Ask'd  her  to  acquit  me  of  rude- 
ness if  I  drew  off  her  glove.  Enquiring  the  reason, 
I  told  her  'twas  great  odds  between  handling  a  dead 
goat,  and  a  living  lady.  Got  it  off.  I  told  her  I 
had  one  petition  to  ask  of  her,  that  was,  that  she 
would  take  off  the  negative  she  laid  on  me  the  third 
of  October  ;  She  readily  answer'd  she  could  not,  and 
enlarg'd  upon  it  ;  She  told  me  of  it  so  soon  as  she 
could  ;  could  not  leave  her  house,  children,  neigh- 
bours, business.  I  told  her  she  might  do  some  good 
to  help  and  support  me.  Mentioning  Mrs.  Gookin, 
Nath.,  the  widow  Weld  was  spoken  of;  said  I  had 
visited  Mrs.  Denison.  I  told  her  Yes  !  Afterward 
I  said,  If  after  a  first  and  second  vagary  she  would 
accept  of  me  returning,  her  victorious  kindness  and 
good  will  would  be  very  obliging.  She  thank' d 
me  for  my  book,  (Mr.  May  hew' s  Sermon),  but 
said  not  a  word  of  the  letter.  When  she  insisted 
on  the  negative,   I  pray'd  there  might  be  no  more 


DIARY   OF   SAMUEL   SEWALL.        311 

thunder  and  lightning,  I  should  not  sleep  all 
night.  I  gave  her  Dr.  Preston,  The  Church's  Mar- 
riage and  the  Church's  Carriage,  which  cost  me 
6s  at  the  sale.  The  door  standing  open,  Mr.  Airs 
came  in,  hung  up  his  hat,  and  sat  down.  After 
awhile,  Madam  Winthrop  moving,  he  went  out. 
Jn°  Eyre  look'd  in,  I  said  How  do  ye,  or,  your  ser- 
vant Mr.  Eyre  :  but  heard  no  word  from  him. 
Sarah  fill'd  a  glass  of  wine,  she  drank  to  me,  I  to 
her,  She  sent  Juno  home  with  me  with  a  good  lan- 
tern, I  gave  her  6?  and  bid  her  thank  her  mistress. 
In  some  of  our  discourse,  I  told  her  I  had  rather  go 
the  Stone-House  adjoining  to  her,  than  to  come  to 
her  against  her  mind.  Told  her  the  reason  why  I 
came  every  other  night  was  lest  I  should  drink  too 
deep  draughts  of  pleasure.  She  had  talk'd  of  Canary, 
her  kisses  were  to  me  better  than  the  best  Canary. 
Explain' d  the  expression  concerning  Columbus. 

.  .  .  8F  17.  In  the  evening  I  visited  Madam 
Winthrop,  who  treated  me  courteously,  but  not  in 
clean  linen  as  somtimes.  She  said,  she  did  not 
know  whether  I  would  come  again,  or  no.  I  ask'd 
her  how  she  could  so  impute  inconstancy  to  me.  (I 
had  not  visited  her  since  Wednesday  night  being 
unable  to  get  over  the  indisposition  received  by  the 
treatment  received  that  night,  and  /  must  in  it 
seem'd  to  sound  like  a  made  piece  of  formality.) 
Gave  her  this  day's  Gazette.  Heard  David  Jeffries 
say  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  some  other  portions  of 
the  Scriptures.  He  came  to  the  door,  and  ask'd  me 
to  go  into  chamber,  where  his  grandmother  was 
tending  little  Katy,  to  whom  she  had   given  physic  ; 


312  SAMUEL   SEWALL. 

but  I  chose  to  sit  below.  Dr.  Noyes  and  his  wife 
came  in,  and  sat  a  considerable  time  ;  had  been  visit- 
ing son  and  daughter  Cooper.  Juno  came  home 
with  me. 

8f  i  8.  Visited  Madam  Mico,  who  came  to  me 
in  a  splendid  dress.  I  said,  It  may  be  you  have 
heard  of  my  visiting  Madam  Winthrop,  her  sister. 
She  answer'd,  her  sister  had  told  her  of  it.  1 
ask'd  her  good  will  in  the  affair.  She  answer'd, 
If  her  sister  were  for  it,  she  should  not  hinder  it.  1 
gave  her  Mr.  Homes' s  Sermon.  She  gave  me  a 
glass  of  Canary,  entertain' d  me  with  good  discourse, 
and  a  respectful  remembrance  of  my  first  wife.  I 
took  leave. 

8f  19.  Midweek.  Visited  Madam  Winthrop; 
Sarah  told  me  she  was  at  Mr.  Walley's,  would  not 
come  home  till  late.  I  gave  her  Hannah  3  oranges 
with  her  duty,  not  knowing  whether  I  should  find 
her  or  no.  Was  ready  to  go  home  :  but  said  if  I 
knew  she  was  there,  I  would  go  thither.  Sarah 
seem'd  to  speak  with  pretty  good  courage,  She 
would  be  there.  I  went  and  found  her  there,  with 
Mr.  Walley  and  his  wife  in  the  little  room  below. 
At  7  o'clock  I  mentioned  going  home  ;  at  8.  I  put 
on  my  coat,  and  quickly  waited  on  her  home.  She 
found  occasion  to  speak  loud  to  the  servant,  as  if  she 
had  a  mind  to  be  known.  Was  courteous  to  me ; 
but  took  occasion  to  speak  pretty  earnestly  about  my 
keeping  a  coach  :  I  said  'twould  cost  ^100.  per 
annum  :  she  said  'twould  cost  but  ^40.  Spake  much 
against  John   Winthrop,    his   false-heartedness.      Mr. 


DIARY    OF    SAMUEL   SEW  ALL.        313 

Eyre  came  in  and  sat  awhile  ;  I  offer' d  him  Dr. 
Incr.  Mather's  Sermons,  whereof  Mr.  Appleton's 
Ordination  Sermon  was  one  ;  said  he  had  them 
already.  I  said  I  would  give  him  another.  Exit. 
Came  away  somewhat  late. 

85  20.  .  .  .  Madam  Winthrop  not  being  at 
Lecture,  I  went  thither  first  ;  found  her  very  serene 
with  her  daughter  Noyes,  Mrs.  Dering,  and  the 
widow  Shipreev  sitting  at  a  little  table,  she  in  her 
arm'd  chair.  She  drank  to  me,  and  I  to  Mrs. 
Noyes.  After  awhile  pray'd  the  favour  to  speak 
with  her.  She  took  one  of  the  candles,  and  went 
into  the  best  room,  clos'd  the  shutters,  sat  down 
upon  the  couch.  She  told  me  Madam  Usher  had 
been  there,  and  said  the  coach  must  be  set  on  wheels, 
and  not  by  rusting.  She  spake  something  of  my 
needing  a  wig.  Ask'd  me  what  her  sister  said  to 
me.  I  told  her,  She  said,  If  her  sister  were  for  it, 
she  would  not  hinder  it.  But  I  told  her,  she  did  not 
say  she  would  be  glad  to  have  me  for  her  brother. 
Said,  1  shall  keep  you  in  the  cold,  and  asked  her  if 
she  would  be  within  to  morrow  night,  for  we  had  had 
but  a  running  feat.  She  said  she  could  not  tell 
whether  she  should,  or  no.  I  took  leave.  As  were 
drinking  at  the  Governour's,  he  said  :  In  England 
the  ladies  minded  little  more  than  that  they  might 
have  money,  and  coaches  to  ride  in.  I  said,  And 
New  England  brooks  its  name.  At  which  Mr.  Dud- 
ley smiled.     Gov["  said  they  were  not  quite  so  bad  here. 

ST.  21.  Friday,  My  son,  the  Minister,  came  to 
me    p.   m.    by   appointment    and    we    pray   one    for 


314  SAMUEL   SEWALL. 

another  in  the  Old  Chamber  ;  more  especially  re- 
specting my  courtship.  About  6.  o'clock  I  go  to 
Madam  Winthrop's  ;  Sarah  told  me  her  mistress  was 
gone  out,  but  did  not  tell  me  whither  she  went.  She 
presently  order' d  me  a  fire  ;  so  I  went  in,  having  Dr. 
Sibb's  Bowels  with  me  to  read.  I  read  the  two  first 
Sermons,  still  no  body  came  in  :  at  last  about  9.  o'clock 
Mr.  Jn°  Eyre  came  in  ;  I  took  the  opportunity  to  say 
to  him  as  I  had  done  to  Mrs.  Noyes  before,  that  I 
hoped  my  visiting  his  mother  would  not  be  disagree- 
able to  him  ;  He  answered  me  with  much  respect. 
When  'twas  about  9.  o'clock  he  of  himself  said 
he  would  go  and  call  her,  she  was  but  at  one  of  his 
brothers  :  A  while  after  I  heard  Madam  Winthrop's 
voice,  enquiring  somthing  about  John.  After  a  good 
while  and  clapping  the  garden  door  twice  or  thrice, 
she  came  in.  I  mention'd  something  of  the  lateness  ; 
she  banter' d  me,  and  said  I  was  later.  She  receiv'd 
me  courteously.  I  ask'd  when  our  proceedings 
should  be  made  public  :  She  said  They  were  like  to 
be  no  more  public  than  they  were  already.  Offer' d 
me  no  wine  that  I  remember.  I  rose  up  at  1 1  o'clock 
to  come  away,  saying  I  would  put  on  my  coat,  she 
offer' d  not  to  help  me.  I  pray'd  her  that  Juno  might 
light  me  home,  she  open'd  the  shutter,  and  said 
'twas  pretty  light  abroad  ;  Juno  was  weary  and  gone 
to  bed.  So  I  came  home  by  star-light  as  well  as  I 
could.    .    .    . 

OctobT  24.  I  went  in  the  Hackney  Coach  through 
the  Common,  stop'd  at  Madam  Winthrop's  (had  told 
her  I  would  take  my  departure  from  thence).  Sarah 
came  to  the  door  with  Katy  in  her  arms  :    but   I   did 


DIARY   OF    SAMUEL    SEWALL.        315 

not  think  to  take  notice  of  the  child.  Call'd  her 
mistress.  I  told  her,  being  encourag'd  by  David 
Jeffries'  loving  eyes,  and  sweet  words,  I  was  come 
to  enquire  whether  she  could  find  in  her  heart  to  leave 
that  house  and  neighbourhood,  and  go  and  dwell 
with  me  at  the  South-end  ;  I  think  she  said  softly, 
Not  yet.  I  told  her  it  did  not  lie  in  my  lands  to 
keep  a  coach.  If  I  should,  I  should  be  in  danger  to 
be  brought  to  keep  company  with  her  neighbour 
Brooker,  (he  was  a  little  before  sent  to  prison  for 
debt).  Told  her  I  had  an  antipathy  against  those 
who  would  pretend  to  give  themselves  ;  but  nothing 
of  their  estate.  I  would  a  proportion  of  my  estate 
with  my  self.  And  I  supposed  she  would  do  so.  As 
to  a  Perriwig,  My  best  and  greatest  Friend,  I  could 
not  possibly  have  a  greater,  began  to  find  me  with 
hair  before  I  was  born,  and  had  continued  to  do  so 
ever  since  ;  and  I  could  not  find  in  my  heart  to  go  to 
another.  She  commended  the  book  I  gave  her,  Dr. 
Preston,  the  Church  Marriage  ;  quoted  him  saying 
'twas  inconvenient  keeping  out  of  a  fashion  commonly 
used.  I  said  the  time  and  tide  did  circumscribe  my 
visit.  She  gave  me  a  dram  of  black-cherry  brandy, 
and  gave  me  a  lump  of  the  Sugar  that  was  in  it.  She 
wish'd  me  a  good  journey.  I  pray'd  God  to  keep  her, 
and  came  away.  Had  a  very  pleasant  journey  to 
Salem.    .    .    . 

October  31.  At  night  I  visited  Madam  Winthrop 
about  6.  p.  m.  They  told  me  she  was  gone  to  Madam 
Mico's.  I  went  thither  and  found  she  was  gone  ;  so 
return' d  to  her  house,  read  the  Epistles  to  the  Gala- 
tians,  Ephesians  in  Mr.  Eyre's  Latin  Bible.      After  the 


316  SAMUEL   SEWALL. 

clock  struck  8.  I  began  to  read  the  103.  Psalm.  Mr. 
Wendell  came  in  from  his  warehouse.  Ask'd  me  if  I 
were  alone  ?  Spake  very  kindly  to  me,  offer' d  me  to 
call  Madam  Winthrop.  I  told  him,  She  would  be 
angry,  had  been  at  Mrs.  Mico's  ;  he  help'd  me  on 
with  my  coat  and  I  came  home  :  left  the  Gazette  in  the 
Bible,  which  told  Sarah  of,  bid  her  present  my  service 
to  Mrs.  Winthrop,  and  tell  her  I  had  been  to  wait  on 
her  if  she  had  been  at  home. 

Nov5  1 .  I  was  so  taken  up  that  I  could  not  go  if 
I  would. 

Nov.  2.  Midweek,  went  again  and  found  Mrs. 
Alden  there,  who  quickly  went  out.  Gave  her 
about  1  pound  of  sugar  almonds,  cost  3s  per  -£. 
Carried  them  on  Monday.  She  seem'd  pleas' d  with 
them,  ask'd  what  they  cost.  Spake  of  giving  her  a 
hundred  pounds  per  annum  if  I  died  before  her. 
Ask'd  her  what  sum  she  would  give  me,  if  she  should 
die  first  ?  Said  I  would  give  her  time  to  consider  of 
it.  She  said  she  heard  as  if  I  had  given  all  to  my 
children  by  deeds  of  gift.  I  told  her  'twas  a  mis- 
take, Point-Judith  was  mine  &c.  That  in  England  I 
own'd,  my  father's  desire  was  that  it  should  go  to  my 
eldest  son  ;  'twas  20^  per  annum  ;  she  thought  'twas 
forty.  I  think  when  I  seem'd  to  excuse  pressing  this, 
she  seemed  to  think  'twas  best  to  speak  of  it  ;  a  long 
winter  was  coming  on.  Gave  me  a  glass  or  two  of 
Canary. 

Nov!"  41!1  Friday,  Went  again,  about  7.  o'clock  ; 
found  there  Mr.  John  Walley  and  his  wife  :  sat  dis- 
coursing pleasantly.      I   shew'd  them  Isaac  Moses's 


DIARY    OF    SAMUEL    SEWALL 


in 


[an  Indian]  writing.  Madam  W.  serv'd  comfits 
to  us.  After  a-while  a  table  was  spread,  and  supper 
was  set.  I  urg'd  Mr.  Walley  to  crave  a  blessing  ; 
but  he  put  it  upon  me.  About  9.  they  went  away. 
I  ask'd  Madam  what  fashioned  neck-lace  I  should 
present  her  with,  She  said,  None  at  all.  I  ask'd  her 
Whereabout  we  left  ofF  last  time  ;  mention 'd  what  I 
had  offer' d  to  give  her  ;  Ask'd  her  what  she  would 
give  me  ;  She  said  she  could  not  change  her  condi- 
tion :  She  had  said  so  from  the  beginning  ;  could  not 
be  so  far  from  her  children,  the  Lecture.  Quoted 
the  Apostle  Paul  affirming  that  a  single  life  was 
better  than  a  married.  I  answer' d  That  was  for 
the  present  distress.  Said  she  had  not  pleasure  in 
things  of  that  nature  as  formerly  :  I  said,  you  are  the 
fitter  to  make  a  wife.  If  she  held  in  that  mind,  I 
must  go  home  and  bewail  my  rashness  in  making 
more  haste  than  good  speed.  However,  considering 
the  supper,  I  desired  her  to  be  within  next  Monday 
night,  if  we  liv'd  so  long.  Assented.  She  charg'd 
me  with  saying,  that  she  must  put  away  Juno,  if  she 
came  to  me  :  I  utterly  denied  it,  it  never  came  in  my 
heart  ;  yet  she  insisted  upon  it  ;  saying  it  came  in  upon 
discourse  about  the  Indian  woman  that  obtained  her 
freedom  this  Court.  About  10.  I  said  I  would  not 
disturb  the  good  orders  of  her  house,  and  came  away. 
She  not  seeming  pleas' d  with  my  coming  away. 
Spake  to  her  about  David  JefFries,  had  not  seen 
him. 

Monday,  Nov!"  7*  My  son  pray'd  in  the  Old 
Chamber.  Our  time  had  been  taken  up  by  son  and 
daughter  Cooper's  Visit  ;  so  that  I  only  read  the  1  30*11 


31  8  SAMUEL   SEWALL. 

and  143.  Psalm.  Twas  on  the  account  of  my  court- 
ship, I  went  to  Mad.  Winthrop  ;  found  her  rocking 
her  little  Katy  in  the  cradle.  I  excus'd  my  coming 
so  late  (near  eight).  She  set  me  an  arm'd  chair 
and  cushion  ;  and  so  the  cradle  was  between  her 
arm'd  chair  and  mine.  Gave  her  the  remnant  of 
my  almonds  ;  She  did  not  eat  of  them  as  before  ;  but 
laid  them  away  ;  I  said  I  came  to  enquire  whether 
she  had  alter' d  her  mind  since  Friday,  or  remained  of 
the  same  mind  still.  She  said,  Thereabouts.  I  told 
her  I  loved  her,  and  was  so  fond  as  to  think  that  she 
loved  me  :  she  said  had  a  great  respect  for  me.  I 
told  her,  I  had  made  her  an  offer,  without  asking  any 
advice  ;  she  had  so  many  to  advise  with,  that  'twas 
an  hindrance.  The  fire  was  come  to  one  short 
brand  besides  the  block,  which  brand  was  set  up  in 
end  ;  at  last  it  fell  to  pieces,  and  no  recruit  was  made  : 
She  gave  me  a  glass  of  wine.  I  think  I  repeated 
again  that  I  would  go  home  and  bewail  my  rashness 
in  making  more  haste  than  good  speed.  I  would 
endeavour  to  contain  myself,  and  not  go  on  to  sollicit 
her  to  do  that  which  she  could  not  consent  to.  Took 
leave  of  her.  As  came  down  the  steps  she  bid  me 
have  a  care.  Treated  me  courteously.  Told  her 
she  had  enter'd  the  4th  year  of  her  widowhood.  I 
had  given  her  the  News-Letter  before  :  I  did  not  bid 
her  draw  off  her  glove  as  sometime  I  had  done.  Her 
dress  was  not  so  clean  as  sometime  it  had  been. 
Jehovah  jireh  ! 

Midweek,  9*  gt  Dine  at  Bror  Stoddard's :  were 
so  kind  as  to  enquire  of  me  if  they  should  invite  M'ra 
Winthrop  ;   I  anwer'd  No.    .    .    . 


DIARY    OF   SAMUEL   SEWALL.       319 

About  the  middle  of  Decr  Madam  Winthrop  made 
a  treat  for  her  children  ;  Mr.  Sewall,  Prince,  Wil- 
loughby  :  I  knew  nothing  of  it  ;  but  the  same  day 
abode  in  the  Council  Chamber  for  fear  of  the  rain, 
and  din'd  alone  upon  Kilby's  pies  and  good  beer. 

An  Interlude. 

March  5,  1 720/1.  .  .  .  Mr.  Prince,  P.M., 
preached  a  funeral  sermon  from  Psalm  90  :  10.  Gave 
Capt.  Hill  a  good  character.  Just  as  I  sat  down  in 
my  seat  one  of  my  fore-teeth  in  my  under  jaw  came 
out,  and  I  put  it  in  my  pocket.  This  old  servant 
and  daughter  of  music  leaving  me,  does  thereby  give 
me  warning  that  I  must  shortly  resign  my  head. 
The  Lord  help  me  to  do  it  cheerfully. 

Saturday,  July  15,  1721.  .  .  .  Call  and  sit 
awhile  with  Madam  Ruggles.  She  tells  me  they  had 
been  up  all  night,  her  daughter,  Joseph  Ruggles' s 
wife,  was  brought  to  bed  of  a  daughter.  I  showed 
my  willingness  to  renew  my  old  acquaintance  (as  a 
suitor}.  She  expressed  her  inability  to  be  serviceable. 
Gave  me  cider  to  drink.  I  came  home  Thursday, 
Aug.  3  (1721),  went  in  the  coach  and  visited  Mrs. 
Ruggles  after  Lecture.  She  seems  resolved  not  to 
move  out  of  that  house.  May  be  of  some  use  there  ; 
none  at  Boston  —  till  she  be  carried  out  ;  made  some 
difficulty  to  accept  an  Election  Sermon,  lest  it  should 
be  an  obligation  on  her.  The  coach  staying  long 
(going  to  Boston  for  a  new  fare)  I  made  some  excuse 
for  my  stay  ;  she  said  should  be  glad  to  wait  upon 
me  till  midnight,   provided    I  should    solicit  her  no 


320  SAMUEL   SEWALL. 

more  ;  or  to  that  effect.  I  said  she  was  willing  to 
get  rid  of  me.  She  answered,  That  was  too  sharp. 
I  gave  her  Mr.  Moodey's  Election  Sermon,  marbled, 
with  her  name  written  in  it. 

Copy  of  a  Letter  to  Mrs.  Mary  Gibbs,  Widow, 
at  Newtown,  Jany  12th,   172 1/2. 

Madam  :  Your  removal  out  of  town  and  the 
severity  of  the  winter,  are  the  reason  of  my  making 
you  this  epistolatory  visit.  In  times  past  (as  I  re- 
member) you  were  minded  that  I  should  marry  you, 
by  giving  you  to  your  desirable  bridegroom.  Some 
sense  of  this  intended  respect  abides  with  me  still ; 
and  puts  me  upon  enquiring  whether  you  be  willing 
that  I  should  marry  you  now,  by  becoming  your 
husband.  Aged,  feeble  and  exhausted  as  I  am,  your 
favorable  answer  to  this  enquiry,  in  a  few  lines,  the 
candor  of  it  will  much  oblige  Madam  your  humble 
serv*.  S.S. 

Madam  Gibbs. 

[They  were  married  March  29,  1722.  She  sur- 
vived him.] 

THE    SELLING    OF  JOSEPH. 
A  Memorial. 

"  For  as  much  liberty  is  in  real  value  next  unto  life  :  None 
ought  to  part  with  it  themselves,  or  deprive  others  of  it,  but  upon 
most  mature  consideration." 

The  numerousness  of  slaves  at  this  day  in  the  prov- 
ince, and  the  uneasiness  of  them  under  their  slavery, 
hath  put  many  upon  thinking  whether  the  foundation 


THE   SELLING   OF  JOSEPH.  32 1 

of  it  be  firmly  and  well  laid  ;  so  as  to  sustain  the  vast 
weight  that  is  built  upon  it.  It  is  most  certain  that 
all  men,  as  they  are  the  sons  of  Adam,  are  coheirs  ; 
and  have  equal  right  unto  liberty,  and  all  other  out- 
ward comforts  of  life.  "  God  hath  given  the  earth 
[with  all  its  commodities]  unto  the  sons  of  Adam," 
Psal.  cxv.  16.  "  And  hath  made  of  one  blood,  all 
nations  of  men,  for  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the 
earth,  and  hath  determined  the  times  before  appointed, 
and  the  bounds  of  their  habitation  :  That  they  should 
seek  the  Lord.  Forasmuch  then  as  we  are  the  off- 
spring of  God,"  etc.  Acts  xvii.  26,  27,  29.  Now 
although  the  title  given  by  the  last  Adam  doth 
infinitely  better  men's  estates,  respecting  God  and 
themselves  ;  and  grants  them  a  most  beneficial  and 
inviolable  lease  under  the  broad  seal  of  heaven,  who 
were  before  only  tenants  at  will  :  yet  through  the 
indulgence  of  God  to  our  first  parents  after  the  fall, 
the  outward  estate  of  all  and  every  of  their  children 
remains  the  same,  as  to  one  another.  So  that  origi- 
nally and  naturally  there  is  no  such  thing  as  slavery. 
Joseph  was  rightfully  no  more  a  slave  to  his  brethren, 
than  they  were  to  him  ;  and  they  had  no  more  author- 
ity to  sell  him  than  they  had  to  slay  him.  And  if  they 
had  nothing  to  do  to  sell  him,  the  Ishmaelites  bargain- 
ing with  them,  and  paying  down  twenty  pieces  of 
silver,  could  not  make  a  title.  Neither  could  Potiphar 
have  any  better  interest  in  him  than  the  Ishmaelites 
had.  Gen.  xxxvii.  20,  27,  28.  For  he  that  shall 
in  this  case  plead  alteration  of  property,  seems  to  have 
forfeited  a  great  part  of  his  own  claim  to  humanity. 
There  is  no  proportion  between  twenty  pieces  of  silver 
and  liberty.     The  commodity  itself  is  the  claimer.     If 


322  SAMUEL   SEWALL. 

Arabian  gold  be  imported  in  any  quantities,  most  are 
afraid  to  meddle  with  it,  though  they  might  have  it  at 
easy  rates,  lest  if  it  should  have  been  wrongfully  taken 
from  the  owners,  it  should  kindle  a  fire  to  the  consump- 
tion of  their  whole  estate.  'Tis  pity  there  should  be 
more  caution  used  in  buying  a  horse,  or  a  little  lifeless 
dust,  than  there  is  in  purchasing  men  and  women  : 
whenas  they  are  the  offspring  of  God,  and  their 
liberty  is, 

Auro  pretiosior  omnt. 

And  seeing  God  hath  said,  "He  that  stealeth  a 
man  and  selleth  him,  or  if  he  be  found  in  his  hand,  he 
shall  surely  be  put  to  death."  Exod.  xxi.  16,  This 
law  being  of  everlasting  equity,  wherein  man-stealing 
is  ranked  among  the  most  atrocious  of  capital  crimes, 
what  louder  cry  can  there  be  made  of  that  celebrated 
warning, 

°  Caveat  emptor  ! 

And  all  things  considered,  it  would  conduce  more 
to  the  welfare  of  the  province,  to  have  white  servants 
for  a  term  of  years,  than  to  have  slaves  for  life.  Few 
can  endure  to  hear  of  a  negro's  being  made  free  ;  and 
indeed  they  can  seldom  use  their  freedom  well  ;  yet 
their  continual  aspiring  after  their  forbidden  liberty 
renders  them  unwilling  servants.  And  there  is  such 
a  disparity  in  their  conditions,  color  and  hair,  that  they 
can  never  embody  with  us  and  grow  up  into  orderly 
families,  to  the  peopling  of  the  land  :  but  still  remain 
in  our  body  politic  as  a  kind  of  extravasate  blood..  As 
many  negro  men  as  there  are  among  us,  so  many  empty 
places  there  are  in  our  train  bands,  and  the  places  taken 
up  of  men  that  might  make  husbands  for  our  daughters. 
And  the  sons  and  daughters  of  New  England  would 


THE    SELLING   OF   JOSEPH.  323 

become  more  like  Jacob  and  Rachel,  if  this  slavery 
were  thrust  quite  out  of  doors.  Moreover,  it  is  too  well 
known  what  temptations  masters  are  under,  to  connive 
at  the  fornication  of  their  slaves  ;  lest  they  should  be 
obliged  to  find  them  wives  or  pay  their  fines.  It  seems 
to  be  practically  pleaded  that  they  might  be  lawless  ; 
'tis  thought  much  of,  that  the  law  should  have  satis- 
faction for  their  thefts  and  other  immoralities  ;  by 
which  means,  holiness  to  the  Lord  is  more  rarely 
engraven  upon  this  sort  of  servitude.  It  is  likewise 
most  lamentable  to  think  how,  in  taking  negroes  out 
of  Africa  and  selling  of  them  here,  that  which  God 
has  joined  together  men  do  boldly  rend  asunder  ;  men 
from  their  country,  husbands  from  their  wives,  parents 
from  their  children.  How  horrible  is  the  uncleanness, 
immorality,  if  not  murder,  that  the  ships  are  guilty  of 
that  bring  great  crowds  of  these  miserable  men  and 
women  !  Methinks,  when  we  are  bemoaning  the 
barbarous  usage  of  our  friends  and  kinsfolk  in  Africa, 
it  might  not  be  unseasonable  to  inquire  whether  we 
are  not  culpable  in  forcing  the  Africans  to  become 
slaves  among  ourselves.  And  it  may  be  a  question 
whether  all  the  benefit  received  by  negro  slaves  will 
balance  the  account  of  cash  laid  out  upon  them  ;  and 
for  the  redemption  of  our  own  enslaved  friends  out  of 
Africa.  Besides  all  the  persons  and  estates  that  have 
perished  there. 

Obj.  1.  These  blackamoors  are  of  the  posterity  of 
Cham,  and  therefore  are  under  the  curse  of  slavery. 
Gen.  ix.  25,  26,  27. 

Answ.  Of  all  offices,  one  would  not  beg  this,  viz., 
uncalled  for,  to  be  an  executioner  of  the  vindictive 
wrath  of  God  ;  the  extent  and  duration  of  which  is 


324  SAMUEL   SEWALL. 

to  us  uncertain.  If  this  ever  was  a  commission,  how 
do  we  know  but  that  it  is  long  since  out  of  date  ? 
Many  have  found  it  to  their  cost,  that  a  prophetical 
denunciation  of  judgment  against  a  person  or  people 
would  not  warrant  them  to  inflict  that  evil.  If  it 
would,  Hazael  might  justify  himself  in  all  he  did 
against  his  master,  and  the  Israelites,  from  II. 
Kings  viii.    10,    12. 

But  it  is  possible  that,  by  cursory  reading,  this  text 
may  have  been  mistaken.  For  Canaan  is  the  person 
cursed  three  times  over,  without  the  mentioning  of 
Cham.  Good  expositors  suppose  the  curse  entailed 
on  him,  and  that  this  prophecy  was  accomplished  in 
the  extirpation  of  the  Canaartites,  and  in  the  servitude 
of  the  Gibeonites.  Vide  pareum.  Whereas  the 
blackamoors  are  not  descended  of  Canaan,  but  of 
Cush.  Psal.  lxviii.  31.  "  Princes  shall  come  out  of 
Egypt  (Mizraim)  Ethiopia  (Cush)  shall  soon  stretch 
out  her  hands  unto  God."  Under  which  names, 
all  Africa  may  be  comprehended  ;  and  their  promised 
conversion  ought  to  be  prayed  for.  Jer.  xiii.  23. 
"  Can  the  Ethiopian  change  his  skin  ?  "  This  shows 
that  black  men  are  the  posterity  of  Cush,  who  time 
out  of  mind  have  been  distinguished  by  their  color. 
And  for  want  of  the  true,  Ovid  assigns  a  fabulous 
cause  of  it  : 

Sanguine  turn  credunt  in  corpora  summa  vocato 
JEtbiopum  populos  nigrum  traxisse  colorem. 

Metamorph.  lib.  a. 

Obj.  2.    The   nigers  are  brought  out  of  a   pagan 
country  into  places  where  the  gospel  is  preached. 
Answ.    Evil  must    not  be  done,   that   good  may 


THE   SELLING   OF   JOSEPH.  325 

come  of  it.  The  extraordinary  and  comprehensive 
benefit  accruing  to  the  church  of  God,  and  to  Joseph 
personally,  did  not  rectify  his  brethren's  sale  of  him. 

Obj.  3.  The  Africans  have  wars  one  with  an- 
other :  our  ships  bring  lawful  captives  taken  in  those 
wars. 

Answ.  For  aught  is  known,  their  wars  are  much 
such  as  were  between  Jacob's  sons  and  their  brother 
Joseph.  If  they  be  between  town  and  town,  pro- 
vincial or  national,  every  war  is  upon  one  side  unjust. 
An  unlawful  war  can't  make  lawful  captives.  And 
by  receiving,  we  are  in  danger  to  promote  and  par- 
take in  their  barbarous  cruelties.  I  am  sure,  if  some 
gentlemen  should  go  down  to  the  Brewsters  to  take 
the  air  and  fish,  and  a  stronger  party  from  Hull  should 
surprise  them  and  sell  them  for  slaves  to  a  ship  out- 
ward bound,  they  would  think  themselves  unjustly 
dealt  with  ;  both  by  sellers  and  buyers.  And  yet 
'tis  to  be  feared  we  have  no  other  kind  of  title  to  our 
nigers.  "  Therefore  all  things  whatsoever  ye  would 
that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  even  so  to  them  : 
for  this  is  the  law  and  the  prophets."     Matt.  vii.   12. 

Obj.  4..  Abraham  had  servants  bought  with  his 
money,  and  born  in  his  house. 

Answ.  Until  the  circumstances  of  Abraham's  pur- 
chase be  recorded,  no  argument  can  be  drawn  from 
it.  In  the  meantime  charity  obliges  us  to  conclude 
that  he  knew  it  was  lawful  and  good. 

It  is  observable  that  the  Israelites  were  strictly  for- 
bidden the  buying  or  selling  one  another  for  slaves. 
Levit.  xxv.  39,  46.  Jer.  xxxiv.  8-22.  And  God 
gaged  his  blessing  in  lieu  of  any  loss  they  might  con- 
ceive they  suffered  thereby.       Deut.  xv.   i8«       And 


326  SAMUEL   SEWALL. 

since  the  partition  wall  is  broken  down,  inordinate 
self-love  should  likewise  be  demolished.  God  ex- 
pects that  Christians  should  be  of  a  more  ingenuous 
and  benign  frame  of  spirit.  Christians  should  carry 
it  to  all  the  world,  as  the  Israelites  were  to  carry  it 
one  towards  another.  And  for  men  obstinately  to 
persist  in  holding  their  neighbours  and  brethren  under 
the  rigor  of  perpetual  bondage,  seems  to  be  no  proper 
way  of  gaining  assurance  that  God  has  given  them 
spiritual  freedom.  Our  blessed  Saviour  has  altered 
the  measures  of  the  ancient  love-song,  and  set  it  to  a 
most  excellent  new  tune,  which  all  ought  to  be  am- 
bitious of  learning.  Matt.  v.  43,  44.  John  xii. 
34.  These  Ethiopians,  as  black  as  they  are,  seeing 
they  are  the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  first  Adam,  the 
brethren  and  sisters  of  the  last  Adam,  and  the  off- 
spring of  God,  they  ought  to  be  treated  with  a  re- 
spect agreeable. 


SARAH    KEMBLE  KNIGHT. 

Sarah  Kemble  Knight,  a  Boston  school-teacher 
and  graphic  diarist,  was  born  in  Boston  in  1666,  the 
daughter  of  Captain  Thomas  Kemble,  a  merchant. 
She  married  Richard  Knight,  was  left  a  widow  about 
1  703,  and  in  1  706  opened  a  school,  where  she  had  the 
honor  of  training  Benjamin  Franklin,  and  the  responsi- 
bility of  nursing  the  literary  aspirations  of  Samuel 
Mather.  She  was  popularly  known  as  Madame 
Knight,  and  had  some  reputation  for  excellence  in  the 
art  of  teaching  composition.  After  seven  years  she 
moved  to  Norwalk,  Connecticut,  where  she  was 
fined  for  selling  liquors  to  the  Indians,  but  protested 
her  innocence,  accusing  her  own  maid.  From  what 
she  has  to  say  about  strong  waters  in  her  Journal,  one 
must  hope  that  she  was  the  victim  of  a  misunder- 
standing. She  died  near  Norwalk  on  Christmas 
Day,  1727.  She  is  now  remembered  for  her  account 
of  a  journey  from  Boston  to  New  York  in  the  year 
1 704,  a  series  of  sprightly  descriptions  of  early  settle- 
ments, of  inn  life,  and  of  the  customs  and  hardships 
of  colonial  travel.  It  was  first  edited  in  1825,  by 
Theodore  Dwight  and  was  reprinted  in  1865  with 
additional  biographical  information. 


327 


328  SARAH  KEMBLE  KNIGHT. 

ON  HORSEBACK  FROM  BOSTON  TO  NEW 
YORK  IN   1704. 

[From    the    Journals   of    Madam    Knight,   etc., 
From  The  Original    Manuscripts.      1825.] 

Monday,  October  the  second,  1704. — About 
three  o'clock  afternoon,  I  began  my  journey  from 
Boston  to  New  Haven,  being  about  two  hundred 
mile.  My  kinsman,  Captain  Robert  Luist,  waited 
on  me  as  far  as  Dedham,  where  I  was  to  meet  the 
western  post. 

I  visited  the  Rev.  Mr.  Belcher,  the  minister  of  the 
town,  and  tarried  there  till  evening,  in  hopes  the  post 
would  come  along.  But  he  not  coming,  I  resolved 
to  go  to  Billings's  where  he  used  to  lodge,  being 
twelve  miles  further.  But  being  ignorant  of  the  way, 
Madam  Belcher,  seeing  no  persuasions  of  her  good 
spouse's  or  hers  could  prevail  with  me  to  lodge  there 
that  night,  very  kindly  went  with  me  to  the  tavern, 
where  I  hoped  to  get  my  guide,  and  desired  the 
hostess  to  inquire  of  her  guests  whether  any  of  them 
would  go  with  me.  But  they  being  tied  by  the  lips 
to  a  pewter  engine,  scarcely  allowed  themselves  time 
to  say  what  clownish.  .  .  .  [Here  half  a  page  of 
the  MS.  is  gone.]  Pieces  of  eight,  I  told  her  no, 
I  would  not  be  accessory  to  such  extortion. 

"  Then  John  shan't  go,"  says  she.  "No,  in- 
deed, shan't  he  ;  "  and  held  forth  at  that  rate  a  long 
time,  that  I  began  to  fear  I  was  got  among  the  quak- 
ing tribe,  believing  not  a  limber-tongued  sister  among 
them  could  outdo  Madam  Hostess. 


ON    HORSEBACK.  329 

Upon  this,  to  my  no  small  surprise,  son  John 
arose,  and  gravely  demanded  what  I  would  give  him 
to  go  with  me  ?  ?'  Give  you  ?  "  says  I,  "  are  you 
John?"  "Yes,"  says  he,  "for  want  of  a  better  ;" 
and  behold  !  this  John  looked  as  old  as  my  host,  and 
perhaps  had  been  a  man  in  the  last  century.  "  Well, 
Mr.  John,"  says  I,  "make  your  demands." 
"Why,  half  a  piece  of  eight  and  a  dram,"  says 
John.  I  agreed,  and  gave  him  a  dram  (now)  in 
hand  to  bind  the  bargain. 

My  hostess  catechised  John  for  going  so  cheap, 
saying  his  poor  wife  would  break  her  heart.  .  .  . 
[Here  half  a  page  of  the  MS.  is  gone.] 

His  shade  on  his  horse  resembled  a  globe  on  a  gate 
post.  His  habit,  horse  and  furniture,  its  looks  and 
goings  incomparably  answered  the  rest. 

Thus  jogging  on  with  an  easy  pace,  my  guide  tell- 
ing me  it  was  dangerous  to  ride  hard  in  the  night 
(which  his  horse  had  the  sense  to  avoid),  he  enter- 
tained me  with  the  adventures  he  had  passed  by  late 
riding,  and  imminent  dangers  he  had  escaped,  so  that, 
remembering  the  heroes  in  "  Parismus "  and  the 
"Knight  of  the  Oracle,"  I  did'nt  know  but  I  had 
met  with  a  prince  disguised. 

When  we  had  rid  about  an  hour,  we  came  into  a 
thick  swamp,  which  by  reason  of  a  great  fog,  very 
much  startled  me,  it  being  now  very  dark.  But  noth- 
ing dismayed  John  :  he  had  encountered  a  thousand 
and  a  thousand  such  swamps,  having  a  universal  knowl- 
edge in  the  woods  ;  and  readily  answered  all  my  in- 
quiries which  were  not  a  kw. 

In  about  an  hour,  or  something  more,  after  we  left 
the  swamp,  we  came  to  Billings's,  where  I  was  to 


330  SARAH    KEMBLE    KNIGHT. 

lodge.  My  guide  dismounted  and  very  complacently 
helped  me  down  and  showed  the  door,  signing  to  me 
with  his  hand  to  go  in  ;  which  I  gladly  did  —  but 
had  not  gone  many  steps  into  the  room,  ere  I  was 
interrogated  by  a  young  lady  I  understood  afterwards 
was  the  eldest  daughter  of  the  family,  with  these,  or 
words  to  this  purpose  ;  viz.,  "  Law  for  me  !  —  what 
in  the  world  brings  you  here  at  this  time  of  night  ?  I 
never  see  a  woman  on  the  road  so  dreadful  late  in  all 
the  days  of  my  versal  life.  Who  are  you  ?  Where 
are  you  going?  I'm  scared  out  of  my  wits  !" — 
with  much  more  of  the  same  kind.  I  stood  aghast, 
preparing  to  reply,  when  in  comes  my  guide  —  to  him 
madam  turned,  roaring  out  :  ™  Lawful  heart,  John, 
is  it  you  ?  —  how  de  do  !  Where  in  the  world  are 
you  going  with  this  woman  ?  Who  is  she  ?  "  John 
made  no  answer,  but  sat  down  in  the  corner,  fumbled 
out  his  black  junk,  and  saluted  that  instead  of  Deb  ; 
she  then  turned  again  to  me  and  fell  anew  into  her 
silly  questions,  without  asking  me  to  sit  down. 

I  told  her  she  treated  me  very  rudely,  and  I  did 
not  think  it  my  duty  to  answer  her  unmannerly  ques- 
tions. But  to  get  rid  of  them,  I  told  her  I  came 
there  to  have  the  post's  company  with  me  to-morrow 
on  my  journey,  etc.  Miss  stared  awhile,  drew  a 
chair,  bade  me  sit,  and  then  ran  up  stairs  and  put  on 
two  or  three  rings  (or  else  I  had  not  seen  them  be- 
fore), and  returning,  set  herself  just  before  me,  show- 
ing the  way  to  Reding,  that  I  might  see  her  ornaments, 
perhaps  to  gain  the  more  respect.  But  her  granam's 
new  rung  sow,  had  it  appeared,  would  have  affected 
me  as  much.  I  paid  honest  John  with  money  and  dram 
according  to  contract,  and  dismissed  him,  and  prayed 


ON    HORSEBACK.  33! 

Miss  to  show  me  where  I  must  lodge.  She  conducted 
me  to  a  parlor  in  a  little  back  lean-to,  which  was 
almost  filled  with  the  bedstead,  which  was  so  high 
'that  I  was  forced  to  climb  on  a  chair  to  get  up  to  the 
wretched  bed  that  lay  on  it  ;  on  which  having  stretched 
my  tired  limbs,  and  laid  my  head  on  a  sad-colored 
pillow,  I  began  to  think  on  the  transactions  of*  the 
past  day. 

Tuesday,  October  the  third,  about  8  in  the  morning, 
I  with  the  post  proceeded  forward  without  observing 
any  thing  remarkable  ;  and  about  two,  afternoon,  ar- 
rived at  the  post's  second  stage,  where  the  western 
post  met  him  and  exchanged  letters.  Here,  having 
called  for  something  to  eat,  the  woman  brought  in  a 
twisted  thing  like  a  cable,  but  something  whiter  ;  and, 
laying  it  on  the  board,  tugged  for  life  to  bring  it  into 
a  capacity  to  spread  ;  which  having  with  great  pains 
accomplished,  she  served  in  a  dish  of  pork  and  cab- 
bage, I  suppose  the  remains  of  dinner.  The  sauce 
was  of  a  deep  purple,  which  I  thought  was  boiled  in 
her  dye  kettle  ;  the  bread  was  Indian,  and  everything 
on  the  table  service  agreeable  to  these.  I,  being  hun- 
gry got  a  little  down  ;  but  my  stomach  was  soon 
cloyed,  and  what  cabbage  I  swallowed  served  me  for 
a  cud  the  whole  day  after. 

Having  here  discharged  the  ordinary  for  self  and 
guide  (as  I  understood  was  the  custom),  about  three 
afternoon  went  on  with  my  third  guide,  who  rode 
very  hard  ;  and  having  crossed  Providence  ferry,  we 
came  to  a  river  which  they  generally  ride  through. 
But  I  dare  not  venture  ;  so  the  post  got  a  lad  and 
canoe  to  carry  me  to  t'other  side,  and  he  rode  through 
and  led  my  horse.      The  canoe  was  very  small  and 


332  SARAH    KEMBLE    KNIGHT. 

shallow,  so  that  when  we  were  in  she  seemed  ready 
to  take  in  water,  which  greatly  terrified  me,  and 
caused  me  to  be  very  circumspect,  sitting  with  my 
hands  fast  on  each  side,  my  eyes  steady,  not  daring 
so  much  as  to  lodge  my  tongue  a  hair's  breadth  more 
on  one  side  of  my  mouth  than  t'other,  nor  so  much 
as  think  on  Lot's  wife,  for  a  wry  thought  would  have 
overset  our  wherry  ;  but  was  soon  put  out  of  this 
pain,  by  feeling  the  canoe  on  shore,  which  I  as  soon 
almost  saluted  with  my  feet ;  and  rewarding  my  scul- 
ler, again  mounted  and  made  the  best  of  our  way  for- 
wards.   .    .    . 

Now  was  the  glorious  luminary,  with  his  swift 
coursers,  arrived  at  his  stage,  leaving  poor  me  with 
the  rest  of  this  part  of  the  lower  world  in  darkness, 
with  which  we  were  soon  surrounded.  The  only 
glimmering  we  now  had  was  from  the  spangled  skies, 
whose  imperfect  reflections  rendered  every  object  for- 
midable. Each  lifeless  trunk,  with  its  shattered  limbs, 
appeared  an  armed  enemy  ;  and  every  little  stump 
like  a  ravenous  devourer.  Nor  could  I  so  much  as 
discern  my  guide,  when  at  any  distance,  which  added 
to  the  terror. 

Thus,  absolutely  lost  in  thought  and  dying  with 
the  very  thoughts  of  drowning,  I  came  up  with  the 
post,  whom  I  did  not  see  till  even  with  his  horse  : 
he  told  me  he  stopped  for  me,  and  we  rode  on  very 
deliberately  a  few  paces,  when  we  entered  a  thicket 
of  trees  and  shrubs,  and  I  perceived  by  the  horse's 
going  we  were  on  the  descent  of  a  hill,  which,  as  we 
came  nearer  the  bottom,  was  totally  dark  with  the 
trees  that  surrounded  it.  But  I  knew  by  the  going 
of  the  horse  we  had  entered  the  water,  which  my 


ON    HORSEBACK.  333 

guide  told  me  was  the  hazardous  river  he  had  told  me 
of;  and  he,  riding  up  close  to  my  side,  bid  me  not 
fear  —  we  should  be  over  immediately.  I  now  ral- 
lied all  the  courage  I  was  mistress  of,  knowing  that  I 
must  either  venture  my  fate  of  drowning,  or  be  left  like 
the  children  in  the  wood.  So,  as  the  post  bid  me,  I 
gave  reins  to  my  nag  ;  and  sitting  as  steady  as  just  before 
in  the  canoe,  in  a  few  minutes  got  safe  to  the  other 
side,  which  he  told  me  was  the  Narragansett  country. 
Being  come  to  Mr.  Haven's,  I  was  very  civilly 
received,  and  courteously  entertained,  in  a  clean,  com- 
fortable house  ;  and  the  good  woman  was  very  active 
in  helping  off  my  riding  clothes,  and  then  asked  what 
I  would  eat.  I  told  her  I  had  some  chocolate,  if  she 
would  prepare  it  ;  which  with  the  help  of  some  milk, 
and  a  little  clean  brass  kettle,  she  soon  effected  to  my 
satisfaction.  I  then  betook  me  to  my  apartment, 
which  was  a  little  room  parted  from  the  kitchen  by  a 
single  board  partition  ;  where,  after  I  had  noted  the 
occurrences  of  the  past  day,  I  went  to  bed,  which, 
though  pretty  hard,  yet  neat  and  handsome.  But  I 
could  get  no  sleep,  because  of  the  clamor  of  some  of 
the  town  topers  in  next  room,  who  were  entered  into 
a  strong  debate  concerning  the  signification  of  the  name 
of  their  country  ;  viz.  Narragansett.  One  said  it  was 
named  so  by  the  Indians,  because  there  grew  a  brier 
there,  of  a  prodigious  height  and  bigness,  the  like  hardly 
ever  known,  called  by  the  Indians  Narragansett ;  and 
quotes  an  Indian  of  so  barbarous  a  name  for  his  author, 
that  I  could  not  write  it.  His  antagonist  replied  no 
—  it  was  from  a  spring  it  had  its  name,  which  he  well 
knew  where  it  was,  which  was  extreme  cold  in  sum- 
mer, and  as  hot  as  could  be  imagined  in  the  winter, 


334  SARAH    KEMBLE    KNIGHT. 

which  was  much  resorted  to  by  the  natives,  and  by 
them  called  Narragansett  (hot  and  cold),  and  that 
was  the  original  of  their  place's  name  —  with  a  thou- 
sand impertinences  not  worth  notice,  which  he  uttered 
with  such  a  roaring  voice  and  thundering  blows  with 
the  fist  of  wickedness  on  the  table,  that  it  pierced  my 
very  head.  I  heartily  fretted,  and  wished  them  tongue 
tied  ;  but  with  as  little  success  as  a  friend  of  mine 
once,  who  was  (as  she  said)  kept  a  whole  night  awake, 
on  a  journey,  by  a  country  lieutenant  and  a  sergeant, 
ensign  and  a  deacon,  contriving  how  to  bring  a  triangle 
into  a  square.  They  kept  calling  for  t'other  gill, 
which,  while  they  were  swallowing,  was  some  inter- 
mission ;  but,  presently,  like  oil  to  fire,  increased  the 
flame.  I  set  my  candle  on  a  chest  by  the  bedside, 
and  sitting  up,  fell  to  my  old  way  of  composing  my 
resentments,  in  the  following  manner  : 

I  ask  thy  aid,  O  potent  Rum  ! 

To  charm  these  wrangling  topers  dumb. 

Thou  hast  their  giddy  brains  possest  — 

The  man  confounded  with  the  beast  — 

And  I,  poor  I,  can  get  no  rest. 

Intoxicate  them  with  thy  fumes  : 

O  still  their  tongues  till  morning  comes  ! 

And  I  know  not  but  my  wishes  took  effect  ;  for  the  dis- 
pute soon  ended  with  t'other  dram  ;  and  so  good  night! 
Wednesday,  October  4th.  About  four  in  the 
morning  we  set  out  for  Kingston  (for  so  was  the 
town  called)  with  a  French  doctor  in  our  company 
He  and  the  post  put  on  very  furiously,  so  that  I  cou'd 
not  keep  up  with  them,  only  as  now  and  then  they 
would  stop  till  they  saw  me.  This  road  was  poorly 
furnished  with  accommodations   for  travellers,  so  that 


ON    HORSEBACK.  335 

we  were  forced  to  ride  twenty-two  miles  by  the 
post's  account,  but  nearer  thirty  by  mine,  before  we 
could  bait  so  much  as  our  horses,  which  1  exceed- 
ingly complained  of.  But  the  post  encouraged  me, 
by  saying  we  should  be  well  accommodated  anon  at 
Mr.  Devil's,  a  few  miles  farther.  But  I  questioned 
whether  we  ought  to  go  to  the  devil  to  be  helped 
out  of  affliction.  However,  like  the  rest  of  deluded 
souls  that  post  to  the  infernal  den,  we  made  all  pos- 
sible speed  to  this  devil's  habitation  ;  where  alighting, 
in  full  assurance  of  good  accommodation,  we  were 
going  in.  But  meeting  his  two  daughters,  as  I  sup- 
posed twins,  —  they  so  nearly  resembled  each  other, 
both  in  features  and  habit,  and  looked  as  old  as  the 
devil  himself,  and  quite  as  ugly,  —  we  desired  enter- 
tainment, but  could  hardly  get  a  word  out  of  them, 
till  with  our  importunity,  telling  them  our  necessity, 
etc.,  they  called  the  old  sophister,  who  was  as  sparing 
of  his  words  as  his  daughters  had  been,  and  no,  or 
none,  were  the  replies  he  made  us  to  our  demands. 
He  differed  only  in  this  from  the  old  fellow  in  t'other 
country  :  he  let  us  depart.  However,  I  thought  it 
proper  to  warn  poor  travellers  to  endeavor  to  avoid 
railing  into  circumstances  like  ours,  which  at  our 
aext  stage  I  sat  down  and  did  as  followeth  : 

May  all  that  dread  the  cruel  fiend  of  night 
Keep  on,  and  not  at  this  cursed  mansion  light. 
'Tis  hell  ;    'tis  hell  !   and  devils  here  do  dwell  : 
Here  dwells  the  Devil  —  surely  this  is  hell. 
Nothing  but  wants  :   a  drop  to  cool  your  tongue 
Can't  be  procured  these  cruel  fiends  among. 
Plenty  of  horrid  grins  and  looks  severe, 
Hunger  and  thirst,  but  pity's  banished  here  — 
The  right  hand  keep,  if  hell  on  earth  you  fear  ! 


336  SARAH    KEMBLE    KNIGHT. 

.  .  .  Saturday,  October  7th,  we  set  out  early  in  the 
morning,  and  being  something  unacquainted  with  the 
way,  having  asked  it  of  some  we  met,  they  told  us 
we  must  ride  a  mile  or  two  and  turn  down  a  lane  on 
the  right  hand  ;  and  by  their  direction  we  rode  on, 
but  not  yet  coming  to  the  turning,  we  met  a  young 
fellow  and  asked  him  how  far  it  was  to  the  lane 
which  turned  down  towards  Guilford.  He  said  we 
must  ride  a  little  further,  and  turn  down  by  the 
corner  of  Uncle  Sam's  lot.  My  guide  vented  his 
spleen  at  the  lubber  ;  and  we  soon  after  came  into 
the  road,  and  keeping  still  on,  without  anything 
further  remarkable,  about  two  o'clock  afternoon  we 
arrived  at  New  Haven,  where  I  was  received  with 
all  possible  respects  and  civility.  Here  I  discharged 
Mr.  Wheeler  with  a  reward  to  his  satisfaction,  and 
took  some  time  to  rest  after  so  long  and  toilsome  a 
journey  ;  and  informed  myself  of  the  manners  and 
customs  of  the  place,  and  at  the  same  time  employed 
myself  in  the  affair  I  went  there  upon. 

They  are  governed  by  the  same  laws  as  we  in 
Boston  (or  little  differing),  throughout  this  whole 
colony  of  Connecticut,  and  much  the  same  way  of 
Church  government,  and  many  of  them  good,  sociable 
people,  and  I  hope  religious  too  ;  but  a  little  too  much 
independent  in  their  principles,  and,  as  I  have  been 
told,  were  formerly  in  their  zeal  very  rigid  in  their 
administrations  towards  such  as  their  laws  made 
offenders,  even  to  a  harmless  kiss  or  innocent  merri- 
ment among  young  people.  Whipping  being  a  fie- 
quent  and  counted  an  easy  punishment,  about  which 
as  other  crimes,  the  judges  were  absolute  in  their 
sentences.      They  told  me  a  pleasant  story  about  a 


ON    HORSEBACK.  337 

pair  of  justices  in  those  parts,  which  I  may  not  omit 
the  relation  of. 

A  negro  slave  belonging  to  a  man  in  the  town, 
stole  a  hog's  head  from  his  master,  and  gave  or  sold 
it  to  an  Indian,  native  of  the  place.  The  Indian 
sold  it  in  the  neighborhood,  and  so  the  theft  was 
found  out.  Thereupon  the  heathen  was  seized,  and 
carried  to  the  Justice's  house  to  be  examined.  But 
his  worship  (it  seems)  was  gone  into  the  field,  with 
a  brother  in  office  to  gather  in  his  pompions  ;  whither 
the  malefactor  is  hurried,  and  complaint  made,  and 
satisfaction  in  the  name  of  justice  demanded.  Their 
worships  can't  proceed  in  form  without  a  bench  : 
whereupon  they  order  one  to  be  immediately  erected, 
which,  for  want  of  fitter  materials,  they  made  with 
pompions  —  which  being  finished,  down  sit  their 
worships,  and  the  malefactor  called,  and  by  the  senior 
justice  interrogated  after  the  following  manner  ;  "  You 
Indian,  why  did  you  steal  from  this  man  ?  You 
shouldn't  do  so  —  it's  a  grandy  wicked  thing  to 
steal. "  "  Hol't,  Hoi' t, ' '  cries  justice  junior, "  Brother, 
you  speak  negro  to  him  ;  I'll  ask  him.  You,  sirrah, 
why  did  you  steal  this  man's  hog's  head  ?  "  "  Hog's 
head?"  replies  the  Indian,  "me  no  stomany." 
"  No  ?  "  says  his  worship  ;  and,  pulling  off  his  hat, 
patted  his  own  head  with  his  hand,  says,  "  Tatapa  — 
you,  Tatapa  —  you  ;  all  one  this.  Hog's  head  all  one 
this."  "Hah  !"  says  Netop,  "now  me  stomany 
that."  Whereupon  the  company  fell  into  a  great  fit 
of  laughter,  even  to  roaring.  Silence  is  commanded, 
but  to  no  effect :  for  they  continued  perfectly  shouting. 
"Nay,"  says  his  worship,  in  an  angry  tone,  "  if  it 
be  so,  take  me  off  the  bench, ' ' 


338  SARAH    KEMBLE    KNIGHT. 

Their  diversions  in  this  part  of  the  country  are  on 
lecture  days  and  training  days  mostly  :  on  the  former 
there  is  riding  from  town  to  town. 

And  on  training  days  the  youth  divert  themselves 
by  shooting  at  the  target,  as  they  call  it  (but  it  very 
much  resembles  a  pillory),  where  he  that  hits  nearest 
the  white  has  some  yards  of  red  ribbon  presented 
him,  which  being  tied  to  his  hat-band,  the  two  ends 
streaming  down  his  back,  he  is  led  away  in  triumph, 
with  great  applause,  as  the  winners  of  the  Olympic 
games.  They  generally  marry  very  young  :  the 
males  oftener,  as  I  am  told,  under  twenty  than 
above  :  they  generally  make  public  weddings,  and 
have  a  way  something  singular  (as  they  say)  in  some 
of  them,  viz.,  just  before  joining  hands  the  bride- 
groom quits  the  place,  who  is  soon  followed  by  the 
bridesmen,  and  as  it  were  dragged  back  to  duty  — 
being  the  reverse  to  the  former  practice  among  us,  to 
steal  mistress  bride. 

There  are  great  plenty  of  oysters  all  along  by  the 
sea  side,  as  far  as  I  rode  in  the  colony,  and  those 
very  good.  And  they  generally  lived  very  well  and 
comfortably  in  their  families.  But  too  indulgent 
(especially  the  farmers)  to  their  slaves  :  suffering  too 
great  familiarity  from  them,  permitting  them  to  sit  at 
the  table  and  eat  with  them  (as  they  say  to  save 
time),  and  into  the  dish  goes  the  black  hoof  as  freely 
as  the  white  hand.  They  told  me  that  there  was 
a  farmer  lived  near  the  town  where  I  lodged  who 
had  some  difference  with  his  slave,  concerning  some- 
thing the  master  had  promised  him  and  did  not 
punctually  perform  ;  which  caused  some  hard  words 
between  them  ;  but  at  length  they  put  the  matter  to 


ON    HORSEBACK.  339 

arbitration  and  bound  themselves  to  stand  to  the 
award  of  such  as  they  named  —  which  done,  the 
arbitrators,  having  heard  the  allegations  of  both 
parties,  ordered  the  master  to  pay  forty  shillings  to 
black  face,  and  acknowledge  his  fault.  And  so  the 
matter  ended  :  the  poor  master  very  honestly  stand- 
ing to  the  award. 

There  are  everywhere,  in  the  towns  as  I  passed,  a 
number  of  Indians  the  natives  of  the  country,  and 
are  the  most  savage  of  all  the  savages  of  that  kind 
that  I  had  ever  seen  :  little  or  no  care  taken  (as  I 
heard  upon  enquiry)  to  make  them  otherwise. 
They  have  in  some  places  lands  of  their  own,  and 
governed  by  laws  of  their  own  making  ;  —  they 
marry  many  wives  and  at  pleasure  put  them  away, 
and  on  the  least  dislike  or  fickle  humor,  on  either 
side,  saying  "  Stand  away,"  to  one  another  is  a  suffi- 
cient divorce.  And  indeed  those  uncomely  "  Stand 
aways  "  are  too  much  in  vogue  among  the  English 
in  this  (indulgent)  colony,  as  their  records  plentifully 
prove,  and  that  on  very  trivial  matters,  of  which 
some  have  been  told  me,  but  are  not  proper  to  be 
related  by  a  female  pen,  though  some  of  that  foolish 
sex  have  had  too  large  a  share  in  the  story. 

They  give  the  title  of  merchant  to  every  trader  ; 
who  rate  their  goods  according  to  the  time  and  specie 
they  pay  in,  viz.,  "  Pay,"  " Money,"  "  Pay  as 
money,"  and  "Trusting."  "Pay"  is  grain, 
pork,  beef,  etc.,  at  the  prices  set  by  the  General 
Court  that  year  ;  M  Money  "  is  pieces  of  eight,  reals, 
or  Boston  or  bay  shillings  (as  they  call  them),  or 
"good  hard  money,"  as  sometimes  silver  coin  is 
termed   by   them;    also   "Wampum,"   viz.,   Indian 


340  SARAH    KEMBLE    KNIGHT. 

beads,  which  serves  for  change.  "  Pay  as  money  " 
is  provisions,  as  aforesaid,  one-third  cheaper  than  as 
the  Assembly  or  General  Court  sets  it  ;  and  "  Trust  " 
as  they  and  the  merchant  agree  for  time. 

Now,  when  the  buyer  comes  to  ask  for  a  commod- 
ity, sometimes  before  the  merchant  answers  that  he 
has  it,  he  says,  "Is  your  pay  ready?"  Perhaps 
the  chap  replies,  "  Yes."  "  What  do  you  pay  in  ?  " 
says  the  merchant.  The  buyer  having  answered,  then 
the  price  is  set  ;  as  suppose  he  wants  a  sixpenny  knife, 
in  pay  it  is  twelve  pence  —  in  pay  as  money,  eight 
pence,  and  hard  money,  its  own  price,  viz.,  six 
pence.  It  seems  a  very  intricate  way  of  trade  and 
what  lex  mertatoria  had  not  thought  of. 

Being  at  a  merchant's  house,  in  comes  a  tall  coun- 
try fellow,  with  his  alfogeos  full  of  tobacco  ;  for  they 
seldom  loose  their  cud,  but  keep  chewing  and  spitting 
as  long  as  their  eyes  are  open,  —  he  advanced  to  the 
middle  of  the  room,  makes  an  awkward  nod,  and  spit- 
ting a  large  deal  of  aromatic  tincture,  he  gave  a  scrape 
with  his  shovel-like  shoe,  leaving  a  small  shovel  full  of 
dirt  on  the  floor,  made  a  full  stop,  hugging  his  own 
pretty  body  with  his  hands  under  his  arms,  stood 
staring  round  him,  like  a  cat  let  out  of  a  basket.  At 
last,  like  the  creature  Balaam  rode  on,  he  opened  his 
mouth  and  said  :  "Have  you  any  ribinen  for  hat- 
bands to  sell,  I  pray  ?  "  The  questions  and  answers 
about  the  pay  being  past,  the  ribbon  is  brought  and 
opened.  Bumpkin  Simpers  cries,  *\  It's  confounded 
gay,  I  vow  ;  "  and  beckoning  to  the  door,  in  comes 
Joan  Tawdry,  dropping  about  fifty  curtsies,  and  stands 
by  him  :  he  shows  her  the  ribbon.  "Law,  you," 
says  she,  "it's  right  gent,  do  you  take  it,  'tis  dread- 


ON    HORSEBACK.  34 1 

ful  pretty."  Then  she  enquires,  "  Have  you  any 
hood  silk,  I  pray  ?  "  which  being  brought  and  bought, 
"  Have  you  any  thread  silk  to  sew  it  with  ?  "  says 
she  ;  which  being  accommodated  with  they  departed. 
They  generally  stand  after  they  come  in  a  great  while 
speechless,  and  sometimes  don't  say  a  word  till  they 
are  asked  wliat  they  want,  which  I  impute  to  the  awe 
they  stand  in  of  the  merchants,  who  they  are  con- 
stantly almost  indebted  to  ;  and  must  take  what  they 
bring  without  liberty  to  choose  for  themselves  ;  but 
they  serve  them  as  well,  making  the  merchants  stay 
long  enough  for  their  pay. 

We  may  observe  here  the  great  necessity  and  bene- 
fit both  of  education  and  conversation  ;  for  these  people 
have  as  large  a  portion  of  mother  wit,  and  sometimes 
a  larger,  than  those  who  have  been  brought  up  in 
cities  ;  but  for  want  of  improvements,  render  them- 
selves almost  ridiculous,  as  above.  I  should  be  glad 
if  they  would  leave  such  follies,  and  am  sure  all  that 
love  clean  houses  (at  least)  would  be  glad  on't  too. 

They  are  generally  very  plain  in  their  dress,  through- 
out all  the  colony,  as  I  saw,  and  follow  one  another 
in  their  modes  ;  that  you  may  know  where  they 
belong,  especially  the  women,  meet  them  where  you 
will. 

Their  chief  red  letter  day  is  St.  Election,  which  is 
annually  observed  according  to  charter,  to  choose  their 
governor  —  a  blessing  they  can  never  be  thankful  enough 
for,  as  they  will  find,  if  ever  it  be  their  hard  fortune 
to  lose  it.  The  present  governor  in  Connecticut  is 
the  Hon.  John  Winthrop,  Esq.,  a  gentleman  of  an 
ancient  and  honorable  family,  whose  father  was 
governor   here   sometime  before,  and   his  grandfather 


342  SARAH    KEMBLE    KNIGHT. 

had  been  governor  of  the  Massachusetts.  This 
gentleman  is  a  very  courteous  and  affable  person, 
much  given  to  hospitality,  and  has  by  his  good  ser- 
vices gained  the  affections  of  the  people  as  much  as 
any  who  had  been  before  him  in  that  post.    .    .    . 

The  City  of  New  York  is  a  pleasant,  well  com- 
pacted place,  situated  on  a  commodious  river  which 
is  a  fine  harbor  for  shipping.  The  buildings,  brick 
generally,  very  stately  and  high,  though  not  altogether 
like  ours  in  Boston.    ... 

They  are  generally  of  the  Church  of  England  and 
have  a  New  England  gentleman  for  their  minister,  and 
a  very  fine  church  set  out  with  all  customary  requisites. 
There  are  also  Dutch  and  divers  conventicles,  as  they 
call  them,  viz.,  Baptist,  Quakers,  etc.  They  are  not 
strict  in  keeping  the  Sabbath,  as  in  Boston  and  other 
places  where  I  had  been,  but  seem  to  deal  with  great 
exactness,  as  far  as  I  see  or  deal  with.  They  are 
sociable  to  one  another  and  courteous  and  civil  to 
strangers,  and  fare  well  in  their  houses.  The  English 
go  very  fashionable  in  their  dress.  But  the  Dutch, 
especially  the  middling  sort,  differ  from  our  women,  in 
their  habit  go  loose,  wear  French  muches,  which  are 
like  a.  cap  and  a  head  band  in  one,  leaving  their  ears 
bare,  which  are  set  out  with  jewels  of  a  large  size  and 
many  in  number  ;  and  their  fingers  hooped  with  rings, 
some  with  large  stones  in  them  of  many  colors,  as  were 
their  pendants  in  their  ears,  which  you  should  see  very 
old  women  wear  as  well  as  young. 

They  have  vendues  very  frequently  and  make 
their  earnings  very  well  by  them,  for  they  treat 
with  good  liquor  liberally,  and  the  customers  drink 
as    liberally   and    generally   pay    for't    as    well,    by 


ON    HORSEBACK.  343 

paying  for  that  which  they  bid  up  briskly  foi 
after  the  sack  has  gone  plentifully  about,  though 
sometimes  good  pennyworths  are  got  there.  Their 
diversion  in  the  winter  is  riding  sleighs  about  three  or 
four  miles  out  of  town,  where  they  have  houses  of 
entertainment  at  a  place  called  the  Bowery,  and  some 
go  to  friends'  houses,  who  handsomely  treat  them. 
Mr.  Burroughs  carried  his  spouse  and  daughter  and 
myself  out  to  one  Madame  Dowes,  a  gentlewoman 
that  lived  at  a  farmhouse,  who  gave  us  a  handsome 
entertainment  of  five  or  six  dishes  and  choice  beer  and 
metheglin,  cider,  etc.,  all  which  she  said  was  the 
produce  of  her  farm.  I  believe  we  met  fifty  or  sixty 
sleighs  that  day  ;  they  fly  with  great  swiftness,  and 
some  are  so  furious  that  they  will  turn  out  of  the 
path  for  none  except  a  loaded  cart.  Nor  do  they 
spare  for  any  diversion  the  place  affords,  and  sociable 
to  a  degree,  their  tables  being  as  free  to  their  neighbors 
as  to  themselves. 

Having  here  transacted  the  affair  I  went  upon  and 
somS  other  that  fell  in  the  way,  after  about  a  fort- 
night's stay  there,  I  left  New  York  with  no  little 
regret,  and  Thursday,  December  2 1  st,  set  out  for 
New  Haven  with  my  kinsman  Trowbridge,  and  the 
man  that  waited  on  me.    .    .    . 

January  6th.  Being  now  well  recruited  and  fit  for 
business,  I  discoursed  the  persons  I  was  concerned  with, 
that  we  might  finish  in  order  to  my  return  to  Boston. 
They  delayed  as  they  had  hitherto  done,  hoping  to 
tire  my  patience.  But  I  was  resolute  to  stay  and  see 
an  end  of  the  matter,  let  it  be  never  so  much  to  my 
disadvantage  ;  so,  January  9th,  they  came  again  and 
promised  the  Wednesday  following  to  go  through  with 


344  SARAH    KEMBLE    KNIGHT. 

the  distribution  of  the  estate,  which  they  delayed  till 
Thursday,  and  then  came  with  new  amusements.  But 
at  length,  by  the  mediation  of  that  holy  good  gentle- 
man, the  Rev.  Mr.  James  Pierpont,  the  minister  of 
New  Haven,  and  with  the  advice  and  assistance  of 
other  our  good  friends,  we  came  to  an  accommodation 
and  distribution,  which  having  finished,  though  not 
till  February,  the  man  that  waited  on  me  to  York  tak- 
ing charge  of  me,  I  set  out  for  Boston.  We  went 
from  New  Haven  upon  the  ice  (the  ferry  being  not 
passable  thereby),  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Pierpont,  with 
Madam  Prout,  cousin  Trowbridge,  and  divers  others, 
were  taking  leave,  we  went  onward  without  anything 
remarkable  till  we  come  to  New  London,  and  lodged 
again  at  Mr.  Saltonstall's  ;  and  here  I  dismissed  my 
guide,  and  my  generous  entertainer  provided  me  Mr. 
Samuel  Rogers  of  that  place  to  go  home  with  me.  I 
stayed  a  day  here  longer  than  I  intended  by  the  com- 
mands of  the  Hon.  Governor  Winthrop  to  stay  and 
take  a  supper  with  him,  whose  wonderful  civility  I 
may  not  omit.  The  next  morning  I  crossed  the  ferry 
to  Groton,  having  had  the  honor  of  the  company  of 
Madam  Livingston  (who  is  the  governor's  daughter) 
and  Mary  Christophers  and  divers  others  to  the  boat  ; 
and  that  night  lodged  at  Stonington,  and  had  roast 
beef  and  pumpkin  sauce  for  supper.  The  next  night 
at  Havens,  and  had  roast  fowl,  and  the  next  day  we 
came  to  a  river,  which,  by  reason  of  the  freshets  com- 
ing down,  was  swelled  so  high,  we  feared  it  impas- 
sable, and  the  rapid  stream  was  very  terrifying ;  however, 
we  must  over,  and  that  in  a  small  canoe.  Mr.  Rogers 
assuring  me  of  his  good  conduct,  I,  after  a  stay  of  near 
an  hour  on  the  shore  for  consultation,  went  into  the 


ON    HORSEBACK.  345 

canoe,  and  Mr.  Rogers  paddled  about  one  hundred 
yards  up  the  creek  by  the  shore  side,  turned  into  the 
swift  stream  and  dexterously  steering  her,  in  a  moment 
we  came  to  the  other  side,  as  swiftly  passing  as  an 
arrow  shot  out  of  the  bow  by  a  strong  arm.  I  stayed 
on  the  shore  till  he  returned  to  fetch  our  horses,  which 
he  caused  to  swim  over,  himself  bringing  the  furniture 
in  the  canoe.  But  it  is  past  my  skill  to  express  the 
exceeding  fright  all  these  transactions  formed  in  me. 
We  were  now  in  the  colony  of  the  Massachusetts,  and, 
taking  lodgings  at  the  first  inn  we  came  to,  had  a  pretty 
difficult  passage  the  next  day,  which  was  the  second 
of  March,  by  reason  of  the  sloughy  ways  then  thawed 
by  the  sun.  Here  I  met  Capt.  John  Richards  of  Bos- 
ton, who  was  going  home,  so  being  very  glad  of  his 
company  we  rode  something  harder  than  hitherto,  and, 
missing  my  way  in  going  up  a  very  steep  hill,  my  horse 
dropped  down  under  me  as  dead  ;  this  new  surprise 
no  little  hurt  me,  meeting  it  just  at  the  entrance  into 
Dedham,  from  whence  we  intended  to  reach  home  that 
night.  But  was  now  obliged  to  get  another  horse  there, 
and  leave  my  own,  resolving  for  Boston  that  night  if 
possible.  But  in  going  over  the  causeway  at  Ded- 
ham, the  bridge  being  overflowed  by  the  high  waters 
coming  down,  I  very  narrowly  escaped  falling  over 
into  the  river,  horse  and  all,  which  'twas  almost  a 
miracle  I  did  not.  Now  it  grew  late  in  the  afternoon, 
and  the  people  having  very  much  discouraged  us  about 
the  sloughy  way,  which  they  said  we  should  find  very 
difficult  and  hazardous,  it  so  wrought  on  me,  being 
tired  and  dispirited  and  disappointed  of  my  desires  of 
going  home,  that  I  agreed  to  lodge  there  that  night, 
which  we  did  at  the  house  of  one  Draper,  and  the 


346  SARAH    KEMBLE    KNIGHT. 

next  day  being  March  3d  we  got  safe  home  to  Bos- 
ton, where  I  found  my  aged  and  tender  mother  and 
my  dear  and  only  child  in  good  health,  with  open 
arms,  ready  to  receive  me,  and  my  kind  relations  and 
friends  flocking  in  to  welcome  me  and  hear  the  story 
of  my  transactions  and  travels,  I  having  this  day  been 
five  months  from  home  ;  and  now  I  cannot  fully  ex- 
press my  joy  and  satisfaction,  but  desire  sincerely  to 
adore  my  Great  Benefactor  for  thus  graciously  carrying 
forth  and  returning  in  safety  his  unworthy  handmaid. 


ROBERT   BEVERLY. 

Robert  Beverly,  the  most  interesting  and  one  of 
the  important  of  the  colonial  historians  of  Virginia, 
was  born  in  that  colony  about  1675,  and  died  there  in 
1 7  1 6.  At  twenty-two  he  succeeded  his  father,  Major 
Robert  Beverly,  as  Clerk  of  the  Council  of  Virginia, 
under  Governor  Andros.  This  office  gave  him  access 
to  documentary  records,  and  in  1 705,  for  reasons  given 
in  our  selections,  he  published  in  London  a  History 
and  Present  State  of  Virginia,  in  four  books.  This 
was  not  merely  an  account  of  present  conditions,  so- 
cial or  economic,  though  it  gives  us  many  intimate 
details  of  the  daily  life  in  Virginia  during  the  first  cen- 
tury of  its  settlement  ;  it  gave  also  an  account  of  the 
settlement  of  the  colony  and  of  its  history.  The 
work  attracted  so  much  attention  that  two  years  after 
its  first  appearance  a  French  translation  of  it  with 
fourteen  illustrations  by  Grivelius  appeared  in  Amster- 
dam, and  these  illustrations  were  used  in  a  second 
English  edition  in  1722.  Beverly  enjoys  the  distinc- 
tion of  being  the  first  American  in  whose  behalf  the 
habeas  corpus  act  was  invoked,  but  he  deserves  the 
higher  distinction  of  being  remembered  as  a  far-sighted, 
patriotic  citizen,  and  a  sensible,  sprightly  writer. 


347 


348  ROBERT    BEVERLY. 


HOW    HE    CAME   TO    WRITE. 

[From  the  Preface  to  the  "  History  and  Pres- 
ent State  of  Virginia."      Edition  of   1722.] 

My  first  business  in  the  world  being  among  the 
public  records  of  my  country,  the  active  thoughts  of 
my  youth  put  me  upon  taking  notes  of  the  general 
administration  of  the  government  ;  but  with  no  other 
design  than  the  gratification  of  my  own  inquisitive 
mind  ;  these  lay  by  me  for  many  years  afterwards, 
obscure  and  secret,  and  would  forever  have  done  so, 
had  not  the  following  accident  produced  them. 

In  the  year  1703,  my  affairs  calling  me  to  Eng- 
land, I  was  soon  after  my  arrival,  complimented  by 
my  bookseller  with  an  intimation,  that  there  was  pre- 
pared for  printing  a  general  account  of  all  her  Majesty's 
Plantations  in  America,  and  his  desire  that  I  would 
overlook  it  before  it  was  put  to  the  press  ;  I  agreed 
to  overlook  that  part  of  it  which  related  to  Virginia. 

Soon  after  this  he  brings  me  about  six  sheets  of 
paper  written,  which  contained  the  account  of  Vir- 
ginia and  Carolina.  This  it  seems  was  to  have  an- 
swered a  part  of  Mr.  Oldmixon's  British  Empire  in 
America.  I  very  innocently  (when  I  began  to  read) 
placed  pen  and  paper  by  me,  and  made  my  observations 
upon  the  first  page,  but  found  it  in  the  sequel  so  very 
faulty,  and  an  abridgement  only  of  some  accounts  that 
had  been  printed  60  or  70  years  ago  ;  in  which  also 
he  had  chosen  the  most  strange  and  untrue  parts,  and 
left  out  the  more  sincere  and  faithful,  so  that  I  laid 
aside  all  thoughts  of  farther  observations,  and  gave  it 


GOVERNOR    NICHOLSON'S   CAREER.     349 

only  a  reading  ;  and  my  bookseller  for  answer,  that 
the  account  was  too  faulty  and  too  imperfect  to  be 
mended.  Withal  telling  him,  that  seeing  I  had  in 
my  junior  days  taken  some  notes  of  the  government, 
which  I  then  had  with  me  in  England,  I  would  make 
him  an  account  of  my  own  country,  if  I  could  find 
time,  while  I  staid  in  London.  And  this  I  should  the 
rather  undertake  in  justice  to  so  fine  a  country  ;  be- 
cause it  has  been  so  misrepresented  to  the  common 
people  of  England,  as  to  make  them  believe  that  the 
servants  in  Virginia  are  made  to  draw  in  cart  and  plow, 
as  horses  and  oxen  do  in  England,  and  that  the  coun- 
try turns  all  people  black,  who  go  to  live  there,  with 
other  such  prodigious  phantasms. 

Accordingly  before  I  left  London,  I  gave  him  a 
short  history  of  the  country,  from  the  first  settlement, 
with  an  account  of  its  then  state ;  but  I  would  not  let 
him  mingle  it  with  Oldmixon's  other  account  of  the 
plantations,  because  I  took  them  to  be  all  of  a  piece 
with  those  I  had  seen  of  Virginia  and  Carolina,  but 
desired  mine  to  be  printed  by  itself.  And  this  I  take 
to  be  the  only  reason  of  that  gentleman's  so  severely 
reflecting  upon  me  in  his  book,  for  I  never  saw  him  in 
my  life  that  I  know  of. 


GOVERNOR    NICHOLSON'S    CAREER. 

[From  the  Same,   Book  I.] 

In  November,  1698,  Francis  Nicholson,  Esq.,  was 
removed  from  Maryland,  to  be  Governor  of  Virginia. 
But  he  went  not  then  with  that  smoothness  on  his 


350  ROBERT    BEVERLY. 

brow  he  had  carried  with  him,  when  he  was  appointed 
Lieutenant-Governor.  He  talked  then  no  more  of 
improving  of  manufactures,  towns,  and  trade.  Neither 
was  he  pleased  to  make  the  acts  of  assembly  the  rule 
of  his  judgments,  as  formerly,  but  his  own  all  sufficient 
will  and  pleasure.  Instead  of  encouraging  the  manu- 
factures, he  sent  over  inhuman  memorials  against  them, 
which  were  so  opposite  to  all  reason,  that  they  re- 
futed themselves.  In  one  of  these,  he  remonstrates, 
"  That  the  tobacco  of  that  country  often  bears  so  low 
a  price,  that  it  will  not  yield  clothes  to  the  people  that 
make  it  ;  "  and  yet  presently  after,  in  the  same  me- 
morial, he  recommends  it  to  the  parliament  "to  pass  an 
act,  forbidding  the  plantations  to  make  their  own  cloth- 
ing ;  "  which,  in  other  words,  is  desiring  a  charitable 
law  that  the  planters  shall  go  naked.  In  a  late  me- 
morial concerted  between  him  and  his  creature,  Col. 
Quarrey,  'tis  most  humbly  proposed,  "That  all  the 
English  colonies  on  the  continent  of  North  America 
be  reduced  under  one  government  and  under  one 
Viceroy  ;  and  that  a  standing  army  be  there  kept  on 
foot,  to  subdue  the  Queen's  enemies  ;  "  surmising  that 
they  were  intending  to  set  up  for  themselves.    .    .    . 

Soon  after  his  accession  to  the  government,  he  pro- 
cured the  assembly,  and  courts  of  judicature,  to  be 
removed  from  Jamestown,  where  there  were  good 
accommodations  for  people,  to  Middle  Plantation, 
where  there  were  none.  There  he  flattered  himself 
with  the  fond  imagination  of  being  the  founder  of  a 
new  city.  He  marked  out  the  streets  in  many  places, 
so  as  that  they  might  represent  the  figure  of  a  W>  in 
memory  of  his  late  Majesty  King  William,  after  whose 
name  the  town  was  called  Williamsburg.      There  he 


GOVERNOR   NICHOLSON'S   CAREER.      35 1 

procured  a  stately  fabric  to  be  erected,  which  he  placed 
opposite  to  the  college,  and  graced  it  with  the  magni- 
ficent name  of  the  "  Capitol."    .    .    . 

In  the  second  year  of  this  gentleman's  government, 
there  happened  an  adventure  very  fortunate  for  him, 
which  gave  him  much  credit,  that  was  the  taking  of  a 
pirate  within  the  Capes  of  that  country. 

It  fell  out  that  several  merchant  ships  were  got 
ready,  and  fallen  down  to  Lynhaven  Bay,  near  the 
mouth  of  James  River,  in  order  for  sailing.  A  pirate 
being  informed  of  this,  and  hearing  that  there  was  no 
man-of-war  there,  except  a  sixth  rate,  ventured  within 
the  Capes,  and  took  several  of  the  merchant  ships. 
But  a  small  vessel  happened  to  come  down  the  bay, 
and,  seeing  an  engagement  between  the  pirate  and  a 
merchantman,  made  a  shift  to  get  into  the  mouth  of 
the  James  River,  where  the  Shoram,  a  fifth  rate  man- 
of-war,  was  newly  arrived.  The  sixth  rate,  com- 
manded by  Capt.  John  Aldred,  was  then  on  the  Carine 
in  Elizabeth  River,  in  order  for  her  return  to  England. 

The  Governor  happened  to  be  at  that  time  at 
Kiquotan,  sealing  up  his  letters,  and  Captain  Passen- 
ger, commander  of  the  Shoram,  went  ashore  to  pay 
his  respects  to  him.  In  the  meanwhile  news  was 
brought  that  the  pirate  was  got  within  the  Capes  ; 
upon  which  the  captain  was  in  haste  to  go  aboard  his 
ship.  But  the  Governor  stayed  him  a  little  promis- 
ing to  go  along  with  him.  The  captain  soon  after 
asked  his  excuse,  and  went  off",  leaving  him  another 
boat,  if  he  pleased  to  follow.  It  was  about  one 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  when  the  news  was  brought  ; 
but  'twas  within  night,  before  his  Excellency  went 
aboard,  staying   all    that    while    ashore,    upon  some 


352  ROBERT    BEVERLY. 

weighty  occasions.  At  last  he  followed,  and  by- 
break  of  day  the  man-of-war  was  fairly  out  between 
the  Capes  and  the  pirate  ;  where,  after  ten  hours' 
sharp  engagement,  the  pirate  was  obliged  to  strike 
and  surrender  upon  the  terms  of  being  left  to  the 
King's  mercy. 

Now  it  happened  that  three  men  of  this  pirate's 
gang  were  not  on  board  their  own  ship  at  the  time  of 
the  surrender,  and  so  were  not  included  in  the  articles 
of  capitulation,  but  were  tried  in  that  country.  In 
summing  up  the  charge  against  them  the  (Governor 
being  present),  the  Attorney-General  extolled  his 
Excellency's  mighty  courage  and  conduct,  as  if  the 
honor  of  taking  the  pirate  had  been  due  to  him.  Upon 
this  Capt.  Passenger  took  the  freedom  to  interrupt 
Mr.  Attorney  in  open  court,  and  said  that  he  was 
commander  of  the  Shoram  ;  that  the  pirates  were  his 
prisoners  ;  and  that  nobody  had  pretended  to  com- 
mand in  that  engagement  but  himself.  He  further 
desired  that  the  Governor  who  was  then  present 
would  do  him  the  justice  to  confess  whether  he  had 
given  the  least  word  of  command  all  that  day,  or 
directed  any  one  thing  during  the  whole  fight.  This, 
his  Excellency  acknowledged  was  true,  and  fairly 
yielded  him  the  honor  of  that  exploit  to  the  Captain. 


A    PERNICIOUS   WEED. 

[From  the  Same,    Book   II.] 

The  James    Town   Weed    (which  resembles    the 
thorny  apple  of  Peru,  and  I  take  to  be  the  plant  so 


A    PERNICIOUS   WEED.  353 

called)  is  supposed  to  be  one  of  the  greatest  coolers 
in  the  world.  This  being  an  early  plant,  was  gath- 
ered very  young  for  a  boiled  salad,  by  some  of  the 
soldiers  sent  thither  to  quell  the  Rebellion  of  Bacon  ; 
and  some  of  them  eat  plentifully  of  it,  and  the  effect 
of  which  was  a  very  pleasant  comedy  ;  for  they  turned 
natural  fools  upon  it  for  several  days.  One  would 
blow  up  a  feather  in  the  air  ;  another  would  dart 
straws  at  it  with  much  fury  ;  and  another,  stark 
naked,  was  sitting  up  in  a  corner,  like  a  monkey, 
grinning  and  making  mows  at  them  ;  a  fourth  would 
fondly  kiss  and  paw  his  companions  and  sneer  in  their 
faces  with  a  countenance  more  antic  than  any  in  a 
Dutch  droll.  In  this  frantic  condition  they  were 
confined  lest  they  should  in  their  folly  destroy  them- 
selves ;  though  it  was  observed  that  all  their  actions 
were  full  of  innocence  and  good  nature.  ...  A 
thousand  such  simple  tricks  they  played  and  after 
eleven  days,  returned  to  themselves  again,  not  remem- 
bering anything  that  had  passed. 

Perhaps  this  was  the  same  herb  that  Mark  Antony's 
army  met  with  in  his  retreat  from  the  Parthian  war 
and  the  Siege  of  Phraata,  when  such  as  had  eaten 
thereof  employed  themselves  with  much  earnestness 
and  industry  in  grubbing  up  stones  and  removing 
them  from  one  place  to  another,  as  if  it  had  been  a 
business  of  the  greatest  consequence.  (  Wine,  as  the 
story  says,  was  found  a  sovereign  remedy  for  it  ; 
which  is  likely  enough,  the  malignity  of  this  herb 
being  cold. 


354  ROBERT    BEVERLY. 

OF    THE     SERVANTS    AND     SLAVES    IN 
VIRGINIA. 

[From  the  Same,  Book  IV.  Part  I.] 

§  50.  Their  servants  they  distinguish  by  the  names 
of  slaves  for  life,  and  servants  for  a  time. 

Slaves  are  the  negroes,  and  their  posterity,  follow- 
ing the  condition  of  the  mother,  according  to  the 
maxim,  partus  sequitur  ventrem.  They  are  called 
slaves  in  respect  to  the  time  of  their  servitude,  because 
it  is  for  life. 

Servants  are  those  which  serve  only  for  a  few  years, 
according  to  the  time  of  indenture,  or  the  custom  of 
the  country.  The  custom  of  the  country  takes  place 
upon  such  as  have  no  indentures.  The  law  in  this 
case  is,  that  if  such  servants  be  under  nineteen  years 
of  age,  they  must  be  brought  into  court,  to  have  their 
age  adjudged  ;  and  from  the  age  they  are  judged 
to  be  of,  they  must  serve  until  they  reach  four  and 
twenty.  But  if  they  be  adjudged  upwards  of  nine- 
teen they  are  then  only  to  be  servants  for  the  term  of 
five  years. 

§51.  The  male-servants,  and  slaves  of  both  sexes> 
are  employed  together  in  tilling  and  manuring  the 
ground,  in  sowing  and  planting  tobacco,  corn,  etc. 
Some  distinction,  indeed,  is  made  between  them  in 
their  clothes;  and  food  ;  but  the  work  of  both  is  no 
other  than  what  the  overseers,  the  freemen,  and  the 
planters  themselves  do. 

Sufficient  distinction  is  also  made  between  the 
female-servants,   and   slaves  ;    for  a  white  woman  is 


THE    PEOPLE   OF   VIRGINIA.         355 

rarely  or  never  put  to  work  in  the  ground,  if  she  be 
good  for  anything  else  :  and  to  discourage  all  planters 
from  using  any  women  so,  their  law  makes  female- 
servants  working  in  the  ground  tithable,  while  it 
suffers  all  other  white  women  to  be  absolutely  ex- 
empted :  Whereas  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  a  common 
thing  to  work  a  woman  slave  out  of  doors  ;  nor  does 
the  law  make  any  distinction  in  her  taxes,  whether 
her  work  be  abroad,  or  at  home. 

§52.  Because  I  have  heard  how  strangely  cruel, 
and  severe,  the  service  of  this  country  is  represented 
in  some  parts  of  England  ;  I  can't  forbear  affirming, 
that  the  work  of  their  servants  and  slaves  is  no  other 
than  what  every  common  freeman  does.  Neither  is 
any  servant  required  to  do  more  in  a  day,  than  his 
overseer.  And  I  can  assure  you  with  great  truth, 
that  generally  their  slaves  are  not  worked  near  so  hard, 
nor  so  many  hours  in  a  day,  as  the  husbandmen,  and 
day-laborers  in  England.  An  overseer  is  a  man,  that 
having  served  his  time,  has  acquired  the  skill  and 
character  of  an  experienced  planter,  and  is  therefore 
intrusted  with  the  direction  of  the  servants  and  slaves. 


OF   THE    PEOPLE,    INHABITANTS    OF 
VIRGINIA. 

[From  the  Same,  Book  IV.  Part  II.  Chap.  XV.] 

§  65.  I  can  easily  imagine  with  Sir  Josiah  Child, 
that  this  as  well  as  all  the  rest  of  the  plantations,  was 
for  the  most  part  at  first  peopled  by  persons  of  low 
circumstances,  and  by  such  as   were   willing  to  seek 


356  ROBERT    BEVERLY. 

their  fortunes  in  a  foreign  country.  Nor  was  it 
hardly  possible  it  should  be  otherwise  ;  for  'tis  not 
likely  that  any  man  of  a  plentiful  estate  should  volun- 
tarily abandon  a  happy  certainty,  to  roam  after  imag- 
inary advantages,  in  a  new  world.  Besides  which 
uncertainty,  he  must  have  proposed  to  himself  to 
encounter  the  infinite  difficulties  and  dangers  that 
attend  a  new  settlement.  These  discouragements 
were  sufficient  to  terrify  any  man  that  could  live  easy 
in  England,  from  going  to  provoke  his  fortune  in  a 
strange  land. 

§  66.  Those  that  went  over  to  that  country  first, 
were  chiefly  single  men,  who  had  not  the  incum- 
brance of  wives  and  children  in  England  ;  and  if  they 
had  they  did  not  expose  them  to  the  fatigue  and 
hazard  of  so  long  a  voyage,  until  they  saw  how  it 
should  fare  with  themselves.  From  hence  it  came  to 
pass,  that  when  they  were  settled  there  in  a  comfort- 
able way  of  subsisting  a  family,  they  grew  sensible  of 
the  misfortune  of  wanting  wives,  and  such  as  had 
left  wives  in  England  sent  for  them  ;  but  the  single 
men  were  put  to  their  shifts.  They  excepted  against 
the  Indian  women,  on  account  of  their  being  pagans, 
as  well  as  their  complexions,  and  for  fear  they  should 
conspire  with  those  of  their  own  nation,  to  destroy 
their  husbands.  Under  this  difficulty  they  had  no 
hopes,  but  that  the  plenty  in  which  they  lived,  might 
invite  modest  women,  of  small  fortunes,  to  go  over 
thither  from  England.  However,  they  would  not 
receive  any,  but  such  as  could  carry  sufficient  certifi- 
cate of  their  modesty  and  good  behavior.  Those,  if 
they  were  but  moderately  qualified  in  other  respects, 
might  depend  upon  marrying  very  well  in  those  days, 


THE    PEOPLE    OF   VIRGINIA.  357 

without  any  fortune.  Nay,  the  first  planters  were  so 
far  from  expecting  money  with  a  woman,  that  'twas  a 
common  thing  for  them  to  buy  a  deserving  wife  that 
carried  good  testimonials  of  her  character,  at  the  price 
of  100  pounds,  and  make  themselves  believe  they  had 
a  bargain. 

§67.  But  this  way  of  peopling  the  colony  was 
only  at  first  ;  for  after  the  advantages  of  the  climate, 
and  the  fruitful ness  of  the  soil  were  well  known,  and 
all  the  dangers  incident  to  infant  settlement  were 
over,  people  of  better  condition  retired  thither  with 
their  families,  either  to  increase  the  estates  they  had 
before,  or  else  to  avoid  being  persecuted  for  their 
principles  of  religion,  or  government. 

Thus  in  the  time  of  the  Rebellion  in  England, 
several  good  cavalier  families  went  thither  with  their 
effects  to  escape  the  tyranny  of  the  Usurper,  or  ac- 
knowledgement of  his  title,  and  so  again,  upon  the 
Restoration,  many  people  of  the  opposite  party  took 
refuge  there,  to  shelter  themselves  from  the  king's 
resentment.  But  Virginia  had  not  many  of  these  last, 
because  that  country  was  famous  for  holding  out  the 
longest  for  the  royal  family,  of  any  of  the  English 
dominions  ;  for  which  reason,  the  Roundheads  went 
for  the  most  part  to  New-England,  as  did  most  of 
those,  that  in  the  reign  of  King  Charles  II.  were 
molested  on  account  of  their  religion,  though  some  of 
these  fell  likewise  to  the  share  of  Virginia.  As  for 
malefactors  condemned  to  transportation,  tho'  the 
greedy  planter  will  always  buy  them,  yet  it  is  to  be 
feared  they  will  be  very  injurious  to  the  country, 
which  has  already  suffered  many  murthers  and  rob- 
beries, the  effects  of  that  new  law  of  England. 


358  ROBERT   BEVERLY. 

THE  PASTIMES  OF  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 
[From  the  Same,   Book  IV.  Part  II.] 

For  their  recreation,  the  plantations,  orchards,  and 
gardens  constantly  afford  them  fragrant  and  delight- 
ful walks.  In  their  woods  and  fields,  they  have  an 
unknown  variety  of  vegetables,  and  other  rarities  of 
nature  to  discover  and  observe.  They  have  hunting, 
fishing,  and  fowling,  with  which  they  entertain  them- 
selves an  hundred  ways.  Here  is  the  most  good- 
nature and  hospitality  practised  in  the  world,  both 
toward  friends  and  strangers  ;  but  the  worst  of  it  is, 
this  generosity  is  attended  now  and  then  with  a  little 
too  much  intemperance.  The  neighborhood  is  at 
much  the  same  distance  as  in  the  country  in  England  ; 
but  with  this  advantage,  that  all  the  better  sort  of 
people  have  been  abroad,  and  seen  the  world,  by 
which  means  they  are  free  from  that  stiffness  and 
formality,  which  discover  more  civility  than  kind- 
ness. And  besides,  the  goodness  of  the  roads  and 
the  fairness  of  the  weather  bring  people  oftener 
together. 

The  Indians,  as  I  have  already  observed,  had  in 
their  hunting  a  way  of  concealing  themselves,  and 
coming  up  to  the  deer,  under  the  blind  of  a  stalking- 
head,  in  imitation  of  which  many  people  have  taught 
their  horses  to  stalk  it,  that  is,  to  walk  gently  by  the 
huntsman's  side,  to  cover  him  from  the  sight  of  the 
deer.  Others  cut  down  trees  for  the  deer  to  browse 
upon,  and  lie  in  wait  behind  them.  Others  again 
set  stakes  at  a  certain  distance  within  their  fences, 


COLONIAL   PASTIMES.  359 

where  the  deer  had  been  used  to  leap  over  into  a 
field  of  peas,  which  they  love  extremely  ;  these 
stakes  they  so  place,  as  to  run  into  the  body  of  the 
deer,  when  he  pitches,  by  which  means  they  impale 
him. 

They  hunt  their  hares  (which  are  very  numerous) 
a-foot,  with  mongrels  or  swift  dogs,  which  either 
catch  them  quickly,  or  force  them  to  a  hole  in  a  hollow 
tree,  whither  all  their  hares  generally  tend,  when 
they  are  closely  pursued.  As  soon  as  they  are  thus 
holed,  and  have  crawled  up  into  the  body  of  a  tree, 
the  business  is  to  kindle  a  fire  and  smother  them  with 
smoke  till  they  let  go  their  hold  and  fall  to  the  bottom 
stifled  ;  from  whence  they  take  them.  If  they  have 
a  mind  to  spare  their  lives,  upon  turning  them  loose 
they  will'  bt  as  fit  a*  ever  to  hunt  at  another  time  : 
for  the  mischief  don~  them  by  the  smoke  immediately 
wears  off  agah\ 

They  have  another  sort  of  hunting,  which  is  very 
diverting;  and  .hat  they  call  vermin-hunting  ;  it  is 
performed  a -foot,  with  small  dogs  in  the  night,  by 
the  light  of  the  noon  ©r  stars.  Thus  in  summer 
time  they  find  abidance  of  raccoons,  opossums,  and 
foxes  in  the  corn-Mds,  and  about  their  plantations  ; 
but  at  other  times  they  must  go  into  the  woods  for 
mem.  The  methed  is  to  go  out  with  three  or  four 
dogs,  and,  as  soon  as  they  come  to  the  place,  they 
bid  the  dogs  seek  out,  and  all  the  company  follow 
immediately.  Wherever  a  dog  barks,  you  may  de- 
pend upon  finding  the  game  ;  and  this  alarm  draws 
both  men  and  dogs  that  way.  If  this  sport  be  in 
the  woods,  the  game  by  that  time  you  come  near  it  is 
perhaps  mounted  to  the  top  of  an  high  tree,  and  then 


360  ROBERT   BEVERLY. 

they  detach  a  nimble  fellow  up  after  it,  who  must 
have  a  scuffle  with  the  beast,  before  he  can  throw  it 
down  to  the  dogs  ;  and  then  the  sport  increases,  to 
see  the  vermin  encounter  those  little  curs.    ... 

For  wolves  they  make  traps,  and  set  guns  baited  in 
the  woods,  so  that,  when  he  offers  to  seize  the  bait, 
he  pulls  the  trigger,  and  the  gun  discharges  upon  him. 
What  Elian  and  Pliny  write  of  the  horses  being  be- 
numbed in  their  legs,  if  they  tread  in  the  track  of  a 
wolf,  does  not  hold  good  here  ;  for  I  myself,  and 
many  others,  have  rid  full  speed  after  wolves  in  the 
woods,  and  have  seen  live  ones  taken  out  of  a  trap, 
and  dragged  at  a  horse's  tail  ;  and  yet  those  that  fol- 
lowed on  horse-back  have  not  perceived  any  of  their 
horses  to  falter  in  their  pace.  .  .  . 

The  inhabitants  are  very  courteous  to  travellers, 
who  need  no  other  recommendation,  but  the  being 
human  creatures.  A  stranger  has  no  more  to  do,  but 
to  inquire  upon  the  road  where  any  gentleman  or  good 
housekeeper  lives,  and  there  he  may  depend  upon 
being  received  with  hospitality.  This  good  nature  is 
so  general  among  their  people,  that  the  gentry,  when 
they  go  abroad,  order  their  principal  servant  to  enter- 
tain all  visitors  with  everything  the  plantation  affords. 
And  the  poor  planters,  who. have  but  one  bed,  will 
very  often  sit  up,  or  lie  upon  a  form  or  couch  all  night, 
to  make  room  for  a  weary  traveller  to  repose  himself 
after  his  journey. 

If  there  happen  to  be  a  churl,  that  either  out  of 
covetousness,  or  ill-nature,  would  not  comply  with 
this  generous  custom,  he  has  a  mark  of  infamy  set  upon 
him,  and  is  abhorred  by  all. 


BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 


Colonial  Prose  and  Poetry 


EDITED    BY 

WILLIAM    P.    TRENT 

AND 

BENJAMIN    W.    WELLS 


THE 
GROWTH  OF  THE  NATIONAL  SPIRIT 

1710-1775 


NEW    YORK 

THOMAS    Y.    CROWELL    CO, 

PUBLISHERS 


&oH    [  oloD 


Copyright,  1901,  1903, 
By  THOMAS  Y.   CROWELL   &  CO. 


CONTENTS. 

PAGH 

Introduction     ......          v 

John  Wise        .... 

I 

Hugh  Jones      .... 

II 

William  Byrd  .... 

21 

The  New  England  Primer 

44 

Benjamin  Colman  and  the  Turell 

5 

76 

John  Seccomb 

105 

Patrick  Tailfer 

1 10 

Thomas  Prince 

120 

William  Douglass 

125 

William  Stith  . 

•      '35 

Jonathan  Edwards 

-     H3 

Benjamin  Franklin 

190 

Mather  Byles  . 

.     237 

Joseph  Green  . 

240 

John  Osborn    . 

.      247 

Thomas  Hutchinson 

.      251 

John  Barnard  . 

.     261 

111 


iv                                  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Benjamin  Church       . 

275 

Thomas  Godfrey  and  Nathaniel  Evans  . 

280 

Jonathan  Boucher       .... 

288 

John  Woolman           .           .           .           . 

296 

Philip  Vickers  Fithian 

315 

INTRODUCTION. 

The  closing  period  of  our  colonial  literature,  lead- 
ing up,  as  .it  does,  to  the  interesting  political  literature 
of  the  Revolution,  is  characterized  in  every  depart- 
ment by  a  growing  secularization,  by  an  intenser  con- 
sciousness of  the  relation  of  letters  to  life,  by  greater 
freedom  of  individual  expression,  and  by  democratic 
aspiration.  We  can  trace  this  change  of  spirit  alike 
in  New  England,  the  Middle,  and  the  Southern  Col- 
onies, and  in  verse  as  well  as  in  prose. 

As  we  saw  in  the  preceding  volume,  poetry  re- 
mained longer  out  of  touch  with  colonial  life  than 
any  other  form  of  literature.  And  still,  at  the  out- 
set of  the  eighteenth  century,  its  mild,  hypothetical 
successes  are  those  of  imitation,  but  it  is  the  imi- 
tation of  a  secularized  England.  The  sturdy  rug- 
gedness  of  the  would-be  poets  of  the  earlier  period 
gives  place,  slowly,  to  a  mechanical  melody  caught 
from  the  school  of  Pope,  smooth,  shallow,  monoto- 
nous in  its  mimicry  of  elegance,  with  little  thought  and 
less  passion.  -Such  was  the  poetry  of  those  eloquent 
preachers,  Mather  Byles  and  Benjamin  Colman,  who 
were  both  in  intimate  relations  with  British  culture, 
and  were  too  modern  in  spirit  to  continue  the  Fan- 
tastic School  of  Noyes  and  Cotton  Mather.  Such, 
too,  was  the  pathetically  poor  poetry  of  Colman' s 
precocious  daughter,  Jane  Turell,  who  dutifully  learned 


VI  INTRODUCTION. 

from  her  father  to  regard  Dr.  Watts  as  "  the  laureate 
of  the  Church  of  Christ,"  and  Sir  Richard  Black- 
more  as  <«  far  above  all  her  praises."  The  "  fatal 
facility"  of  the  "composures"  of  these  new  poets, 
especially  of  Byles  and  his  admiring  disciples,  is  their 
most  deadly  characteristic.  They  may  have  been 
for  their  authors,  as  one  of  them,  perhaps  the  most 
naive  of  all,  Roger  Wolcott,  says,  "  the  improvement 
of  some  vacant  hours,"  but  they  will  hardly  prove 
so  for  posterity.  Yet  it  must  be  remembered  that, 
although  they  wrote  execrable  poetry,  all  these  poets 
were  exemplary  in  their  domestic  and  public  relations. 
Colman  and  Byles  were  great  preachers,  even  if  they 
did  depart  far  from  the  traditions  of  the  Brahmins  of 
the  preceding  century,  and  Roger  Wolcott  was  almost 
as  sturdy  a  public  servant  as  Captain  Edward  Johnson 
or  Daniel  Gookin. 

This  increased  secularism  of  which  we  have  spoken  is 
seen  in  an  extreme  form  in  the  doggerel  ballads  of  John 
Seccomb,  which  gave  him  a  celebrity  intelligible  only 
to  those  who  have  made  some  study  of  his  contempo- 
raries on  the  New  England  Parnassus.  In  somewhat 
higher  humorous  vein,  very  suggestive  of  the  decay  of 
Puritanism  in  their  trivial  whimsicality,  are  the  skits  of 
Joseph  Green,  in  which  we  catch  a  note  of  personal 
satire,  characteristic  of  the  formative  days  of  democracy, 
and  destined  to  find  swelling  echoes  in  'the  succeeding 
Revolutionary  poets,  who  lie  beyond  our  pale.  It  is 
somewhat  startling  to  find  the  New  Englanders  of  the 
generation  after  Cotton  Mather  prepared  to  appreciate 
a  parody  of  one  of  their  own  hymns.  That  they 
should  have  appreciated  John  Osborn's  simple  Whal- 
ing  Song  is  not  surprising  ;    but   this  hardy  product 


INTRODUCTION.  vil 

of  the  soil  was  exceptional,  even  in  Osborn's  own 
scanty  verse,  while  the  imitative  Benjamin  Church 
and  other  versifiers,  are  more  numerous  than  the  more 
crude  and  original  writers  of  doggerel,  like  John 
Maylem  and  George  Cockings,  who  are  not  repre- 
sented in  these  selections. 

If  we  turn  southward,  we  shall  find  that  here  also 
the  rare  lyric  poets  are  essentially  imitators,  though 
with  more  real  appreciation  of  their  models,  at  least 
in  the  case  of  Evans  and  Godfrey.  There  are  occa- 
sional good  lines  in  the  verses  of  both,  and  the  latter 
gives  evidence  of  the  possession  of  an  imagination  that 
might  have  made  him,  not  a  great  poet,  but  a  worthy 
rival  of  Freneau.  And  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that 
with  Godfrey  the  poetic  drama  practically  begins  in 
America.  An  unactable  blank  verse  tragedy,  to  be 
sure,  The  Prince  of  Parthia,  must  be  pronounced  to 
be  thoroughly  imitative  and  scarcely  readable,  unless 
one  brings  to  it  a  considerable  amount  of  patriotic 
good  will  and  sympathy  for  youthful  talents  eclipsed 
by  death.  But  it  was  creditable  to  have  made  the 
attempt,  and  that  credit  belongs  to  the  Pennsylvanian 
school,  which  was  more  liberal,  in  its  literary  ideals, 
than  New  England  had  yet  become,  and  was  certainly 
more  in  touch  with  the  eighteenth- century  philosophic 
spirit  as  it  was  then  voicing  itself  in  England  and 
France. 

In  verse,  then,  we  leave  our  literature  in  a  state 
of  increasing  secularization  which  in  a  remote  way  in- 
dicates the  presence  of  that  democratic  spirit  which 
was  slowly  transforming  the  colonial  mind.  When 
we  turn  to  the  theologians,  most  of  whom  in 
the  present  volume  are    New    Englanders,   we   shall 


V1U  INTRODUCTION. 

find  this  democratic  independence  marked  at  the  very 
outset  in  Wise,  continuing  philosophically  in  Edwards, 
and  over  the  verge  of  iconoclasm  in  the  Scotch  physician, 
Douglass,  who  aired  his  opinions  on  many  subjects 
outside  his  profession.  Wise  was  one  of  the  most 
brilliant,  forcible,  and  original  of  our  colonial  prose 
writers.  The  subject  on  which  he  wrote  was  of  im- 
mediate and  intense  interest  to  the  colonists,  at  least 
of  New  England,  and  he  voiced  more  than  any  other 
man  of  his  time  the  creed  of  a  religious  democracy, 
especially  its  opposition  to  the  scheme  of  the  Mathers 
to  substitute  in  church  affairs  the  will  of  the  clergy 
for  the  will  of  the  people.  The  meek  and  innocuous 
Questions  and  Proposals  of  that  godly  company  un- 
masked themselves  but  slowly  to  the  popular  con- 
sciousness. John  Wise  bided  his  time,  and  when 
everybody  was  familiar  with  the  question,  he  gave  an 
answer  hardly  less  remarkable  for  its  learning,  its 
satire,  and  its  invective,  than  for  its  tremendous  ear- 
nestness and  its  forensic  art.  The  theory  of  democ- 
racy in  a  Christian  church,  as  it  was  unfolded  here, 
long  remained  the  palladium  of  New  England's  eccle- 
siastical liberty,  and  helped  to  intensify  the  dread 
with  which,  even  after  that  liberty  was  assured,  the 
Massachusetts  colony  shrank  from  the  introduction 
of  episcopacy  in  any  form.  Of  his  Vindication  there 
is  more  than  one  plain  echo  in  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence. It  was  but  natural  that  when  the  Rev- 
olutionary leaders  were  preparing  themselves  and 
others  for  that  great  act,  they  caused  his  books  to  be 
reprinted,  for  these  proved,  as  Professor  Tyler  has 
well  observed,  "an  armory  of  burnished  weapons  in 
all  that  stern  fight." 


INTRODUCTION.  IX 

Thus  the  beginning  of  the  century  sends  its  demo- 
cratic call  to  the  close;  but  the  independence  of 
colonial  theology  is  no  less  marked  in  the  realm  of 
philosophy  than  in  that  of  polity.  Jonathan  Edwards 
is  not  only  greater  than  the  earlier  theologians,  he  is 
something  more  and  other  than  they  ;  not  merely  the 
greatest  exponent  of  New  England  thought,  but  the 
microcosmic  expression  of  its  character,  in  its  strength 
and  in  its  weakness  ;  not  alone  an  inheritor,  but  a 
forerunner,  bearing  indeed  the  fruit  of  Cotton  Mather 
and  Wigglesworth,  but  also  the  seed  of  Emerson  and 
of  Channing.  He  was  the  first  American  to  exert  a 
considerable  influence  on  the  metaphysical  thought 
of  the  world.  In  him  Calvinism  reached  its  culmina- 
tion, and  in  him  the  emotional  Christianity  of  New 
England  took  a  fresh  lease  of  life.  He  was  a  poet  in 
embryo,  a  nature-mystic,  a  scientist,  a  logician,  a 
metaphysician,  as  well  as  a  great  preacher  and  theo- 
logian, and  to  be  an  enduring  classic  he  lacked  only 
the  ripening  effects  of  classical  culture.  There  is  a 
pathos  in  his  inevitable  shortcomings  ;  but  one  recog- 
nizes them  only  with  an  awestruck  admiration  of 
what  this  provincial  accomplished  by  sheer  force  of 
hard  thinking. 

Independence  in  still  another  and  distinctly  remark- 
able form  is  evidenced  by  William  Douglass,  who, 
although  he  did  not  come  to  America  from  his  native 
Scotland  until  he  was  about  twenty-five  years  old, 
launched  himself  almost  immediately  into  the  f*  general 
union  of  total  dissent"  that  had  begun  to  characterize 
the  Boston  even  of  his  period.  Controversy  seems  to 
have  been  his  native  air,  whether  it  were  with  his 
professional    brethren   of  the   medical   art,   with  the 


INTRODUCTION. 


clergy,  the  magistrates,  or  the  government.  No  won- 
der that  a  man  who  commanded  such  a  keen,  racy 
style,  and  had  such  pitiless  shrewdness  to  point  his 
sarcasm,  should  have  found  one  of  his  chief  subjects 
in  the  crumbling  Calvinistic  orthodoxy,  looming  large, 
though  no  longer  portentous.  He  was  practically  the 
first  of  our  writers  who  dared  to  avow  himself  a  ra- 
tionalist, what  the  Frenchmen  of  his  day  would  have 
called  a  libertin.  When  he  wrote  history  it  was  in 
a  journalistic  vein,  with  a  paragraphic  pen,  wholly 
unreliable  whenever  his  passions  or  prejudices  were 
touched,  but  keeping  the  mind  alert  by  the  very  irreg- 
ularity of  his  flashing  wit.  Like  Bayle,  he  is  best  in 
his  footnotes,  and  is  usually  most  amusing  when  he  is 
least  instructive.  His  importance,  however,  for  us 
lies  chiefly  in  this,  that  his  animosity  and  unfairness 
toward  the  Puritan  clergy,  though  reprobated  by 
many,  found  favor  with  some,  and  that  the  time  had 
passed  for  the  suppression  of  such*  free  speech.  For 
this  reason  we  have  spoken  of  him  among  the  theo- 
logians, although  his  heterogeneous  activities  might  as 
well  have  entitled  him  to  a  place  elsewhere,  or  entirely 
apart,  and  although  our  extracts  from  him  touch  only 
once,  and  that  slightly,  upon  theological  matters. 

Douglass  serves  to  carry  us  over  to  the  historians, 
the  publicists,  and  the  depicters  of  colonial  life  and 
manners.  We  have  given  a  few  extracts  from  his 
numerous  and  needed  "animadversions"  on  the  con- 
temporary craze  for  paper  money,  and  some  of  our 
selections  from  Franklin,  that  interesting  Loyalist, 
Rev.  Jonathan  Boucher,  and  a  few  other  writers, 
touch  upon  questions  of  more  or  less  political  import  ; 
but  following  our  rule,  we  have  in  the  main  left  such 


INTRODUCTION.  XI 

matters  to  one  side.  Of  depicters  of  life  and  man- 
ners we  have  chosen  several  representatives,  about  the 
most  important  of  whom,  Byrd,  Franklin,  and  Fithian, 
more  shall  be  said  presently.  Here  we  may  mention 
the  interesting  critical  account  of  Virginia  in  the  first 
quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century,  given  by  the  Rev. 
Hugh-  Jones.  He  is  especially  valuable  for  the  light 
he  throws  upon  Virginian  education.  He  himself 
prepared  a  series  of  text-books  for  his  rather  self- 
willed  pupils,  and  it  is  natural  to  place  him  in  juxta- 
position with  that  unique  production  known  as  The 
New  England  Primer.  This,  as  well  as  Jones's 
tract,  may  be  cited  in  proof  of  the  contention  that, 
turn  where  we  will,  among  the  writings  of  this  epoch, 
we  find  plain  indications  of  the  steady  growth  of  the 
spirit  of  independence.  The  Primer,  indeed,  as 
our  extracts  show,  is  a  veritable  barometer  of  political 
feeling  throughout  the  entire  century. 

When  we  turn  to  history  proper,  we  note  perhaps 
a  more  marked  change  in  essential  character  than  we 
do  in  any  other  department  of  literature.  Narratives, 
such  as  those  of  Bradford,  and  Winthrop,  and  John- 
son, written  by  men  who  had  been  important  partici- 
pators in  the  great  affairs  they  describe,  are  practically 
no  longer  encountered.  Life  in  the  colonies  has  be- 
come more  ordered  and  less  picturesque  ;  there  is  not 
so  much  temptation  to  write  the  annals  of  one's  own 
generation,  or  to  set  down  one's  own  reminiscences, 
as  there  is  to  treat  in  a  critical  and  philosophical  man- 
ner the  records  of  the  past.  Thus,  instead  of  im- 
portant contemporary  historians,  we  have  historical 
scholars  like  Thomas  Prince,  Thomas  Hutchinson, 
and  William   Stith,    all  of  whom    suffered    from  the 


Xll  INTRODUCTION. 

embarrassments  incident  to  pioneer  work.  Prince 
and  Stith,  especially,  found  their  contemporaries  in- 
different to  their  scholarly  zeal  for  preserving  and  set- 
ting down  in  enduring  form  the  records  of  the  heroic 
planters  of  the  English  colonies  in  the  New  World  ; 
but  they  have  their  reward  in  being  remembered  as  in 
a  very  real  sense  the  fathers  of  American  history. 
Extracts  from  their  writings  give  but  a  faint  idea  of 
their  services  to  scholarship.  It  would,  of  course, 
have  been  possible  to  present  selections  from  such 
interesting  contemporary  records  as  the  Entertain- 
ing Passages  Relating  to  Philip's  War  (1716), 
published  by»Thomas  Church  from  the  minutes  of 
his  father,  the  famous  Indian  fighter,  Colonel  Benjamin 
Church.  But  we  have  already  dealt  sufficiently  with 
the  subject  of  Indian  wars  in  the  second  volume,  and 
readers  will  perhaps  gain  from  the  additional  space 
we  have  been  enabled  to  give  to  such  an  interesting 
writer  as  Colonel  Byrd,  and  to  the  remarkable  True 
and  Historical  Narrative  written  by  Patrick  Tailfer, 
and  others,  which  represents  the  only  colony  founded 
during  the  present  period,  that  of  Georgia.  We 
need  not  vouch  for  its  truth  or  its  justice,  but  it  is 
certainly  one  of  the  most  skilful  pieces  of  special 
pleading,  as  well  as  one  of  the  most  caustic  denuncia- 
tions of  governmental  abuse  to  be  found  in  our  early 
literature.  Thus,  Georgia  from  the  very  first  utters 
the  protest  of  independence,  which  each  of  the  older 
colonies  was  in  turn  learning  to  express. 

Yielding  in  interest  to  none  of  the  other  writers 
represented  in  this  volume  are  the  depicters  of  man- 
ners already  mentioned,  Byrd  and  Fithian,  who  give 
us  intimate  pictures  of  life  in  Virginia,  North  Carolina, 


INTRODUCTION.  xill 

and  New  Jersey.  It  is  from  the  social  side,  also,  that 
we  have  approached  in  our  extracts  the  almost  universal 
genius  of  Franklin.  Byrd  was  unique  among  the 
colonial  writers,  —  a  Virginian  gentleman  of  princely 
fortune  and  an  easy  assurance  of  superiority,  whose 
noblesse  oblige  condescended  to  men  of  low  estate. 
Energetic,  resourceful,  public  spirited,  he  was  the 
most  witty  and  ironical  of  all  our  writers  before 
Franklin,  and  worthy  of  the  friendship  he  enjoyed  of 
some  of  the  most  brilliant  members  of  the  English 
aristocracy.  His  writing  is  marked  by  a  note  of  dis- 
tinction. It  is  not  that  of  a  scholar  or  of  a  teacher, 
or  of  a  politician,  but  preeminently  of  a  gentleman, 
the  natural  outpouring  of  a  rarely  fertile  mind,  un- 
studied, but  remarkable  for  facile,  graceful  geniality. 
His  attitude  toward  religion  may  be  contrasted  with 
that  of  Douglass  on  the  one  hand  and  that  of  the 
exquisitely  pious  John  Woolman  on  the  other.  He 
is  sceptical,  but  not  militant.  He  feels  himself  too 
much  the  superior  of  the  parson  to  enter  into  any 
controversy.  His  attitude  is  that  of  his  English 
friends,  to  whom  it  would  have  seemed  as  unbecom- 
ing to  urge  a  protest  as  to  profess  a  creed.  This 
characteristic  position  of  the  "  philosophers  "  of  the 
eighteenth  century  was  as  yet  uncongenial  to  New 
England.  Philadelphia  learned  it  before  Boston. 
The  Autobiography  of  Franklin  would  show  us,  and 
to  some  extent  does  even  in  our  inadequate  extracts, 
how  all-pervading  this  temper  became,  and  how 
scarcely  any  thoughtful  man  could  escape  its  influence. 
Of  Franklin's  place  in  our  colonial  literature  it  is 
superfluous  to  speak.  He  was,  at  the  close  of  the 
period  covered  by  this  volume,   not  only   the   most 


xiv  INTRODUCTION. 

illustrious  of  Americans,  but  one  of  the  most  illustrious 
of  mankind.  It  is,  as  we  have  said,  to  the  social 
side  of  his  multiform  activities  that  we  have  sought  to 
direct  the  attention  of  the  reader,  who  might  be  di- 
verted by  Franklin's  political  and  scientific  achieve- 
ments from  his  contributions  to  the  amelioration  of 
domestic  and  civic  life,  and  above  all,  to  the  enlarging 
and  deepening  of  colonial  ideals  of  municipal  and 
public  spirit.  Franklin  is  our  one  colonial  scientist 
of  cosmopolitan  fame.  He  is  also  our  greatest  master 
of  pithy,  racy,  and  effective  prose  style.  His  Auto- 
biography,  from  which  most  of  our  extracts  are  taken, 
is  said  to  be  one  of  the  half-dozen  most  widely  popular 
books  ever  printed.  His  shrewdness,  his  public  spirit, 
the  universality  of  his  interests,  made  his  the  greatest 
of  individual  contributions  to  the  building  up  of  Ameri- 
can character  in  the  Post-Revolutionary  generation. 
Franklin's  attitude,  like  that  of  Byrd,  was  that  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  The  clew  to  it  is  to  be  found  in  a 
marginal  note  to  his  Autobiography,  in  which  he  ob- 
serves that  f'  Nothing  is  so  likely  to  make  a  man's 
fortune  as  virtue."  It  is  a  smug  philosophy,  and  that 
its  influence  was  felt  even  where  it  was  most  combated 
would  be  clear  to  the  reader  of  Fithian's  Princeton 
experiences,  though  in  our  extracts  from  this  genial 
diarist  that  note  is  less  marked.  We  have  chosen 
from  Fithian  a  passage  that  shows,  as  probably  no 
other  contemporary  writing  does  so  briefly,  the  social 
condition  of  the  oldest  colony  on  the  eve  of  its  in- 
dependence, and  with  this  judicially  drawn  picture  our 
illustrations  of  Colonial  Prose  and  Poetry,  of  the 
beginnings  of  Americanism,  and  the  growth  of  the 
national  consciousness  find  their  fit  close. 


JOHN    WISE. 

John  Wise,  a  New  England  clergyman  and  son  of  a 
quondam  serving-man,  was  born  in  Roxbury,  Massa- 
chusetts, in  i652,anddiedat  Ipswich  in  1725.  He  was 
graduated  at  Harvard  in  1673,  an(^  ten  years  later  was 
ordained  pastor  of  Chebacco,  near  Ipswich,  where  he 
remained  till  his  death.  In  the  agitation  against  the 
government  of  Sir  Edmund  Andros,  he  took  a  leading 
part,  for  which  he  was  fined  and  imprisoned.  He 
was  also  deprived  of  his  ministerial  office,  whereupon 
his  town,  having  paid  his  fine,  sent  him  to  Boston  as 
its  representative.  The  Revolution  of  1688  bringing 
a  change  in  the  home  government,  he  was  active  in 
reorganizing  the  colonial  administration,  and  was  chap- 
lain of  the  unfortunate  expedition  in  1690  to  Canada. 
In  later  ecclesiastical  controversies  he  sided  against  the 
Mathers  in  The  Churches'  Quarrel  Espoused  (  1  7  1  o), 
an  essay  much  praised  for  its  logical  clarity  and  foren- 
sic ability.  His  views  were  afterward  presented  more 
fully  in  A  Vindication  of  the  Government  of  New  Eng- 
land Churches  (  1  7  1  7  ) .  Wise  was  one  of  the  earliest 
American  champions  of  democracy,  a  student  of  gov- 
ernment, of  wide  reading  and  much  penetration,  and  a 
writer  of  a  sonorous  if  somewhat  cumbrous  style.  It 
is  significant  that  his  two  treatises  were  reissued  on  the 
eve  of  the  Revolutionary  War  as  well  as  on  that  of  the 
War  between  the  States.  There  is  no  doubt  as  to  where 
the  valiant  clergyman,  who,  with  his  almost  herculean 
strength  once  overcame  a  champion  wrestler,  would 
have  taken  his  stand  in  either  crisis. 


JOHN  WISE. 


LOYALTY  TO  STATE  AND  CHURCH. 

[From    "  The    Churches'    Quarrel     Espoused." 
i  710.      The  Epistle  Dedicatory.] 

My  conclusion  is  with  devoutest  application  to  the 
supreme  throne,  that  the  almighty  God  will  bless  the 
great  Anne,  our  wise  and  protestant  princess ;  New- 
England's  royal  nurse,  and  great  benefactress,  that  she 
may  live  to  see  all  the  Protestant  Churches  through 
her  vast  empire,  more  virtuous  and  more  united,  as 
they  all  meet  and  center  with  their  differing  persua- 
sions, by  their  love  and  royal  actions,  in  her  person 
and  government.  Let  her  most  excellent  majesty, 
next  to  Christ,  continue  absolute  in  her  empire  over 
their  hearts,  and  as  she  has  made  such  a  complete  con- 
quest, of  all  differing  parties  within  her  dominions,  by 
her  wise  and  virtuous  measures,  and  thereby  won  all 
the  fame  of  rule  and  sovereignty  from  her  royal  pro- 
genitors, who  could  never  so  charm  such  mighty  na- 
tions. Let  her  reign  continue  the  exactest  model  for 
all  courts  in  Europe  !  and  when  she  is  full  replete  and 
satisfied  with  length  of  days,  and  the  most  glorious 
effects  of  a  prosperous  reign,  let  God  favor  her  last- 
ing and  flourishing  name  with  an  unperishing  monu- 
ment, on  which  justice  shall  become  obliged  to  inscribe 
this  memento,  viz.  **  Here  lies  in  funeral  pomp,  the 
princess  of  the  earth,  the  store-house  of  all  ennobling 
and  princely  perfections."  That  if  all  the  monarchs 
on  earth,  have  lost  their  excellencies,  their  arcana 
imperii,  their  state,  wisdom,  skill  in  government,  and 
all    sorts  of  heavenly,   princely  and  heroic  virtues  ; 


LOYALTY  TO  STATE  AND  CHURCH.   3 

here  they  may  be  found  lodged  in  this  one  unparalleled 
Monarch. 

Let  God  bless  his  Excellency,  and  preserve  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Province,  and  let  it  continue  always  in 
the  hands  of  natives,  and  let  our  country,  successively 
breed  men  of  such  merit,  as  shall  always  enamor  im- 
perial majesty  with  their  loyalty  and  worth  ;  and  that 
their  true  deserts  may  ever  purchase  for  them  such  a 
high  station,  whilst  they  shall  plainly  out-weigh  their 
rivals  in  the  royal  balance.  And  let  them  be  always 
patrons  to  these  churches,  as  an  acknowledgement  to 
the  crown  of  heaven,  as  the  settled  condition  of  tenure 
they  hold  by,  and  possess  such  royal  demesnes. 

Let  the  great  and  good  God  of  heaven  and  earth 
bless  these  churches,  the  beauty  of  the  wilderness,  and 
continue  so  noble  a  ministry  as  they  now  have,  and 
prosper  and  requite  their  faithful  and  unwearied  labors, 
and  let  him  continue  the  succession,  and  furnish  the 
next  set  with  greater  accomplishments  and  virtue. 

Let  Christ  Jesus,  the  great  shepherd,  who  hath  the 
care  of  the  flocks  in  the  wilderness,  preserve  inviolable, 
the  inestimable  privileges  and  liberties  of  these  churches  ; 
and  let  them  entail  them,  with  all  other  civil  and  sa- 
cred rights  and  immunities  which  they  now  enjoy,  as 
a  sure  estate  of  inheritance,  to  the  last  posterity  of  this 
people.  And  let  their  children,  and  children's  chil- 
dren remain  from  generation  to  generation,  until  the 
world  be  done  with  ;  and  the  sun  has  left  shining. 
So  prays,  the  meanest  of  all  your  servants 
in  Christ, 

John  Wise. 

May  31,  1 710. 


JOHN    WISE. 


DISAFFECTED    WORKMEN. 

[From    "  The    Churches'    Quarrel     Espoused." 
Answer  to  4TH   Query.] 

And  that  we  can  as  soon  reconcile  a  republic  with 
an  absolute  monarchy,  or  the  best  sort  of  free  states 
with  a  politic  tyranny,  or  at  least  with  an  oligarchy, 
where  the  chief  end  of  government  is  the  enriching 
and  greatness  of  its  ministers  ;  and  this  we  may  do, 
when  we  have  compounded  these  proposa Is  and  our  plat- 
form, so  that  as  that  faithful  and  noble  friend  to  these 
churches,  the  famous  and  learned  Increase  Mather, 
D.D.  in  an  appendix  to  his  dissertation  concerning  the 
sacrament,  laments  several  plots  conspiring  the  dissolu- 
tion of  these  famous  churches,  in  these  words,  viz. 
The  bold  attempts  which  have  of  late  been  made  to 
unhinge  and  overset  the  congregational  churches  in 
New-England,  by  decrying  their  holy  covenant,  &c. 
We  may  here  justly  heighten  the  complaint,  and  cry, 
Pro  Dolor  !  hinc  Lacbrimae  !  Alas,  alas  !  here's  the 
grief !  hence  flows  our  tears  !  for  here  is  a  bold  attempt 
indeed,  not  only  to  despoil  the  house  of  some  particu- 
lar piece  of  furniture,  but  to  throw  it  quite  out  at  win- 
dows ;  not  only  to  take  away  some  of  its  ornaments, 
but  to  blow  up  its  foundations.  For  these  bold  attempts 
which  that  worthy  complains  of,  seem  now  to  be  grown 
very  rampant  ;  for  here  is  in  view  a  combination  of 
workmen  disaffected  with  the  fashion  of  the  old  fabric, 
who  (in  pretence)  design  to  repair,  but  in  reality  to 
ruin  the  whole  frame.  They  appear  (indeed)  some- 
thing in  the  manner  of  Nehemiah's  men  on  the  wall, 
Neh.  4.   17.  as  it  were  with  a  trowel  in  one  hand, 


HARVARD'S   COMMENDAMUS.  5 

with  which  they  now  and  then  put  on  a  little  untem- 
pered  mortar,  to  plaster  over  a  chink  or  two,  where 
the  old  work  by  length  of  time,  is  somewhat  weather- 
beaten,  to  pacify  the  jealousies  of  the  inhabitants,  that 
they  may  think  these  builders  (surely)  are  mending, 
and  not  marring  their  old  comfortable  habitation.  But 
in  reality,  they  have  in  the  other  hand  a  formidable 
maul,  not  as  Nehemiah's  weapon  to  defend,  but  to 
break  down  the  building  ;  for  they  are  all  hands  at 
work  banging  the  platform  in  pieces,  upon  which  the 
old  fabric  is  built.  That  may  not  the  churches,  and 
all  their  lovers  sigh  and  complain,  as  once  Cicero  did, 
O  Temporal  O  Mores/  who  would  have  expected 
such  times  and  such  things  from  such  men  ? 


HARVARD'S    COMMENDAMUS. 

[From  the  Same,   Part  I.    Section  iv.] 

.  .  .  Accademical  learning  we  profess  to  be  a  very 
essential  accomplishment  in  the  gospel  ministry.  It 
is  introduced  by  the  ordinary  blessing  of  God  upon 
human  endeavors,  to  supply  the  place  of  the  cloven 
tongues,  and  those  other  miraculous  gifts  and  endow- 
ments of  mind,  impressed  upon  Christ's  ambassadors, 
whereby  fisher-men  commence  (j>er  saltum')  doctors 
of  divinity  ;  and  in  an  instant  were  stocked  with  such 
principles  of  religion,  reason,  and  philosophy,  that 
they  were  capable  to  dispute  with  Athens  itself,  and 
baffle  the  greatest  wits  she  could  produce,  in  defence, 
and  for  the  advancement  of  Christ's  kingdom,  Acts 
17.18. 


6  JOHN    WISE. 

Thus  it  is  very  reasonable  that  the  churches  should 
be  well  assured  of  the  sufficiency  of  the  learning  of 
those  persons,  ere  they  presume  on  the  ministry  ; 
yet  there  is  a  fairer  way  in  view,  fuller  of  honor  and 
safety,  than  what  the  proposal  directs  to. 

Our  accademy  is  the  store-house  of  learning,  and 
this  all  mankind  will  assent  to.  When  you  have  lost 
the  company  of  the  Muses,  there  they  are  found  in 
their  freeholds,  where  they  hold  the  balance  of  honor 
amongst  the  learned.  This  is  the  place,  if  not  of  the 
goddess  Minerva  or  Apollo,  yet  the  Bethel  or  temple 
of  God  himself;  the  God  of  wisdom,  where  he,  as 
chief  architect,  with  his  under  workmen,  form  wise 
and  learned  men,  and  where  you  may  have  them 
wrought  off  at  first-hand.  Then,  certainly,  here  we 
are  to  secure  our  credulity  and  confidence  in  this 
affair  ;  here  we  are  to  know  whether  they  be  of  the 
right  stamp,  yea  or  no. 

That  of  all  men  living,  the  best  and  most  infallible 
standard  for  the  philosophical  accomplishments  of  our 
candidates,  is  the  judgment  of  the  honorable  president, 
and  noble  fellows  of  our  famous  college  ;  for  this  I  am 
sure  must  needs  stand  for  a  verity,  that  the  judgment 
of  a  real  honest  and  skilful  artificer  (keeping  close  to 
his  shop)  concerning  the  nature  and  qualities  of  an 
edge-tool  which  he  hath  wrought,  and  hammered  on 
his  own  anvil,  out  of  its  first  rude  matter,  must  cer- 
tainly excel  him  that  hath  been  long  from  the  trade, 
that  only  takes  it,  turns  and  tries  the  edge  slightly,  or 
has  but  a  transient  view  of  it  :  so  that  we  may  fairly 
infer,  that  (as  to  human  learning)  Harvard* s  Com- 
mendamus  is  most  valuable  and  sufficient,  and  justly 
supplants  these  testimonials. 


HATRED   OF   ARBITRARY    POWER.         7 

ENGLISH    HATRED   OF  ARBITRARY 
POWER. 

[From  the  Same,   Part  II.   Section  i.] 

Englishmen  hate  an  arbitrary  power  (politically 
considered)  as  they  hate  the  devil. 

For  that  they  have  through  immemorial  ages  been 
the  owners  of  very  fair  enfranchizements  and  liber- 
ties, that  the  sense,  favor  or  high  esteem  of  them  are 
(as  it  were)  extraduce>  transmitted  with  the  ele- 
mental materials  of  their  essence  from  generation  to 
generation,  and  so  ingenate  and  mixed  with  their 
frame,  that  no  artifice,  craft  or  force  used  can  root  it 
out.  Naturam  expellas  furca  licet  usque  recurrit. 
And  though  many  of  their  incautelous  princes  have  en- 
deavored to  null  all  their  charter  rights  and  immunities, 
and  agrandize  themselves  in  the  servile  state  of  the  sub- 
jects, by  setting  up  their  own  separate  will,  for  the 
great  standard  of  government  over  the  nations,  yet 
they  have  all  along  paid  dear  for  their  attempts,  both 
in  the  ruin  of  the  nation,  and  in  interrupting  the  in- 
crease of  their  own  grandeur,  and  their  foreign  settle- 
ments and  conquests. 

Had  the  late  reigns,  before  the  accession  of  the  great 
William  and  Mary,  to  the  throne  of  England,  but 
taken  the  measures  of  them,  and  her  present  majesty, 
in  depressing  vice,  and  advancing  the  union  and  wealth, 
and  encouraging  the  prowess  and  bravery  of  the  nation, 
they  might  by  this  time  have  been  capable  to  have  given 
laws  to  any  monarch  on  earth  ;  but  spending  their  time 
in  the  pursuit  of  an  absolute  monarchy  (contrary  to 


8  JOHN   WISE. 

the  temper  of  the  nation,  and  the  ancient  constitution 
of  the  government)  through  all  the  meanders  of  state 
craft,  it  has  apparently  kept  back  the  glory,  and  dampt 
all  the  most  noble  affairs  of  the  nation.  And  when, 
under  the  midwifery  of  Macbiavilafi  art,  and  cunning 
of  a  daring  prince,  this  Monster,  tyranny,  and  arbi- 
trary government,  was  at  last  just  born,  upon  the  hold- 
ing up  of  a  finger  !  or  upon  the  least  signal  given,  ON 
the  whole  nation  goes  upon  this  HYDRA. 

The  very  name  of  an  arbitrary  government  is  ready 
to  put  an  Englishman's  blood  into  a  fermentation  ;  but 
when  it  really  comes,  and  shakes  its  whip  over  their 
ears,  and  tells  them  it  is  their  master,  it  makes  them 
stark  mad  ;  and  being  of  a  memical  genius,  and  in- 
clined to  follow  the  court  mode,*they  turn  arbitrary 
too. 

That  some  writers,  who  have  observed  the  govern- 
ments and  humors  of  nations,  thus  distinguish  the 
English. 

The  emperor  (they  say)  is  the  king  of  kings,  the 
king  of  Spain  is  the  king  of  men,  the  king  of  France 
the  king  of  asses,  and  the  king  of  England  the  king  of 
devils  ;  for  that  the  English  nation  can  never  be  bridled, 
and  rid  by  an  arbitrary  prince.  Neither  can  any  chains 
put  on  by  despotic  and  arbitrary  measures  hold  these 
legions.  That  to  conclude  this  plea,  I  find  not 
amongst  all  the  catalogues  of  heroes  or  worthy  things 
in  the  English  empire,  peers  to  these  undertakers  ; 
therefore  we  must  needs  range  them  with  the  arbitrary 
princes  of  the  earth,  (such  as  the  great  Czar  or  Otto- 
man monarch)  who  have  no  other  rule  to  govern  by, 
but  their  own  will.  .  .  . 


CONCERNING   REBELLION. 


CONCERNING    REBELLION. 

[From    "  A  Vindication  of  the  Government  of 
New   England    Churches."      1717.] 

In  general  concerning  rebellion  against  government 
for  particular  subjects  to  break  in  upon  regular  com- 
munities duly  established,  is  from  the  premises  to  vio- 
late the  law  of  nature  ;  and  is  a  high  usurpation  upon 
the  first  grand  immunities  of  mankind.  Such  rebels 
in  states,  and  usurpers  in  churches  affront  the  world 
with  a  presumption  that  the  best  of  the  brotherhood 
are  a  company  of  fools,  and  that  themselves  have  fairly 
monopolized  all  the  reason  of  human  nature.  Yea, 
they  take  upon  them  the  boldness  to  assume  a  preroga- 
tive of  trampling  under  foot  the  natural  original  equality 
and  liberty  of  their  fellows  ;  for  to  push  the  proprie- 
tors of  settlements  out  of  possession  of  their  old,  and 
impose  new  schemes  upon  them,  is  virtually  to  declare 
them  in  a  state  of  vassalage,  or  that  they  were  born 
so  ;  and  therefore  will  the  usurper  be  so  gracious  as 
to  insure  them  they  shall  not  be  sold  at  the  next  mar- 
ket :  They  must  esteem  it  a  favor,  for  by  this  time  all 
the  original  prerogatives  of  man's  nature  are  intention- 
ally a  victim,  smoking  to  satiate  the  usurper's  ambition. 
It  is  a  very  tart  observation  on  an  English  monarch, 
and  where  it  may  by  proportion  be  applied  to  a  sub- 
ject, must  needs  sink  very  deep,  and  serve  for  evidence 
under  his  head.  It  is  in  the  secret  history  of  K.  C.  2. 
and  K.  J.  2.  p.  2,  says  my  author,  Where  the  con- 
stitution of  a  nation  is  such,  that  the  laws  of  the  land 
are  the  measures  both  of  the  sovereign's  commands, 


10  JOHN   WISE. 

and  the  obedience  of  the  subjects,  whereby  it  is  pro- 
vided ;  that  as  the  one  are  not  to  invade  what  by  con- 
cessions and  stipulations  is  granted  to  the  ruler  ;  so  the 
other  is  not  to  deprive  them  of  their  lawful  and  deter- 
mined rights  and  liberties  ;  then  the  prince  who  strives 
to  subvert  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  society,  is  the 
traitor  and  the  rebel,  and  not  the  people,  who  endeavor 
to  preserve  and  defend  their  own.  It's  very  applica- 
ble to  particular  men  in  their  rebellions  or  usurpations 
in  church  or  state. 


HUGH   JONES. 

Hugh  Jones,  a  clergyman  of  the  Established  Church, 
was  bom  in  England  in  1 669,  and  died  in  Cecil  County, 
Maryland,  in  1760.  He  emigrated  to  the  colonies 
in  1 696,  and  for  sixty-four  years  was  rector  of  various 
parishes  in  Maryland  and  Virginia.  He  was  at  one 
time  Chaplain  to  the  Assembly  of  the  latter  colony,- 
and  in  1702  professor  of  mathematics  in  William  and 
Mafy  College.  He  owes  his  place  in  this  collection 
to  his  curious  and  interesting  book,  The  Present  State 
of  Virginia,  printed  in  London  in  1724,  but  he  de- 
serves remembrance,  also,  for  his  labors  as  a  text- 
book writer  for  Virginian  pupils,  some  of  whose 
characteristics  are  given  in  our  extract. 


VIRGINIAN  TRAITS. 

[From     "The     Present     State    of    Virginia.*  ' 
1724.] 

Thus  they  have  good  natural  notions  and  will  soon 
learn  arts  and  sciences  ;  but  are  generally  diverted  by 
business  or  inclination  from  profound  study  and  pry- 
ing into  the  depth  of  things  ;  being  ripe  for  manage- 
ment of  their  affairs  before  they  have  laid  so  good  a 
foundation  of  learning,  and  had  such  instructions,  and 


12  HUGH   JONES. 

acquired  such  accomplishments  as  might  be  instilled  into 
such  good  natural  capacities.  Nevertheless,  through 
their  quick  apprehension  they  have  a  sufficiency  of 
knowledge  and  fluency  of  tongue,  though  their  learn- 
ing for  the  most  part  be  but  superficial. 

They  are  more  inclinable  to  read  men  by  business 
and  conversation  than  to  dive  into  books,  and  are  for 
the  most  part  only  desirous  of  learning  what  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  in  the  shortest  and  best  method. 

Having  this  knowledge  of  their  capacities  and  incli- 
nation from  sufficient  experience,  I  have  composed  on 
purpose  some  short  treatises  adapted  with  my  best  judg- 
ment to  a  course  of  education  for  the  gentlemen  of  the 
plantations  :  consisting  in  a  short  English  grammar  ; 
an  accidence  to  Christianity  ;  an  accidence  to.  the 
mathematics,  especially  to  arithmetic  in  all  its  parts 
and  applications,  algebra,  geometry,  surveying  of  land, 
and  navigation. 

These  are  the  most  useful  branches  of  learning  for 
them,  and  such  as  they  willingly  and  readily  master, 
if  taught  in  a  plain  and  short  method,  truly  applicable 
to  their  genius  ;  which  I  have  endeavored  to  do  for 
the  use  of  them  and  all  others  of  their  temper  and 
parts. 

They  are  not  very  easily  persuaded  to  the  improve- 
ment of  useful  inventions  (except  a  few,  such  as 
sawing  mills),  neither  are  they  great  encouragers  of 
manufactures,  because  of  the  trouble  and  certain  ex- 
pense in  attempts  of  this  kind,  with  uncertain  prospect 
of  gain  ;  whereas  by  their  staple  commodity,  tobacco, 
they  are  in  hopes  to  get  a  plentiful  provision  ;  nay, 
often  very  great  estates. 

Upon  this  account  they  think  it  folly  to  take  off 


VIRGINIAN   TRAITS.  1 3 

their  hands  (or  negroes)  and  employ  their  care  and 
time  about  anything  that  may  make  them  lessen  their 
crop  of  tobacco. 

So  that  though  they  are  apt  to  learn,  yet  they  are 
fond  of,  and  will  follow  their  own  ways,  humors,  and 
notions,  being  not  easily  brought  to  new  projects  and 
schemes  ;  so  that  I  question  if  they  would  have  been 
imposed  upon  by  the  Mississippi  or  South  Sea  or  any 
other  such  monstrous  bubbles. 

In  their  computations  of  time,  weights,  and  meas- 
ures, both  of  length,  superficies,  and  solidity,  they 
strictly  adhere  to  what  is  legal  ;  not  running  into  pre- 
carious customs  as  they  do  in  England.  Thus  their 
quart  is  the  true  Winchester  ;  their  hundred  is  100, 
not  1 1  2,  and  they  survey  land  by  statute  measure. 

Indeed,  what  English  coin  is  there  is  advanced  in 
value,  so  that  a  shilling  passes  for  14^.,  and  a  guinea 
goes  by  tale  for  26s.  ;  but  the  current  money  is  the 
Spanish,  which  in  reality  is  about  1  5/.  per  cent,  inferior 
to  our  English  coin,  as  settled  by  law  :  but  frequently 
the  value  of  this  varies  in  respect  of  sterling  bills  ac- 
cording to  the  circumstances  of  trade  ;  currency  and 
sterling  being  sometimes  at  a  par  ;  but  for  the  generality 
10  per  cent,  discount  is  allowed  for  sterling  bills. 

As  for  education,  several  are  sent  to  England  for  it  ; 
though  the  Virginians  being  naturally  of  good  parts  (as. 
I  have  already  hinted)  neither  require  nor  admire  as 
much  learning  as  we  do  in  Britain  ;  yet  more  would 
be  sent  over,  were  they  not  afraid  of  the  small-pox, 
which  most  commonly  proves  fatal  to  them. 

But,  indeed,  when  they  come  to  England,  they  are 
generally  put  to  learn  to  persons  that  know  little  of 
their  temper,  who  keep  them  drudging  on  in  what  is 


14  HUGH   JONES. 

of  least  use  to  them,  in  pedantic  methods  too  tedious 
for  their  volatile  genius. 

For  grammar  learning,  taught  after  the  common 
roundabout  way,  is  not  much  beneficial  nor  delightful 
to  them  ;  so  that  they  are  noted  to  be  more  apt  to 
spoil  their  school  fellows  than  improve  themselves  ;  be- 
cause they  are  imprisoned  and  enslaved  to  what  they 
hate  and  think  useless,  and  have  not  peculiar  manage- 
ment proper  for  their  humor  and  occasion. 

A  civil  treatment  with  some  liberty,  if  permitted 
with  discretion,  is  most  proper  for  them,  and  they 
have  most  need  of,  and  readily  take  polite  and  mathe- 
matical learning  ;  and  in  English  may  be  conveyed  to 
them  (without  going  directly  to  Rome  and  Athens) 
all  the  arts,  sciences  and  learned  accomplishments  of 
the  ancients  and  moderns,  without  the  fatigue  and  ex- 
pense of  another  language,  for  which  most  of  them 
have  little  use  or  necessity,  since  (without  another) 
they  may  understand  their  own  speech,  and  all  other 
things  requisite  to  be  learned  by  them,  sooner  and 
better. 

Thus  the  youth  might  as  well  be  instructed  there  as 
here  by  proper  methods,  without  the  expense  and  dan- 
ger of  coming  hither  ;  especially  if  they  make  use  of 
the  great  advantage  of  the  college  at  Williamsburg, 
where  they  may  (and  many  do)  imbibe  the  princi- 
ples of  all  human  and  divine  literature,  both  in  Eng- 
lish and  in  the  learned  languages. 

By  the  happy  opportunity  of  this  college  may  they 
be  advanced  to  religious  and  learned  education,  accord- 
ing to  the  discipline  and  doctrine  of  the  established 
Church  of  England  ;  in  which  respect  this  college  may 
prove  of  singular  service,  and  be  an  advantageous  and 


VIRGINIAN   TRAITS.  1 5 

laudable  nursery  and  strong  bulwark  against  the  con- 
tagious dissensions  in  Virginia  ;  which  is  the  most 
ancient  and  loyal,  the  most  plentiful  and  flourishing, 
the  most  extensive  and  beneficial  colony  belonging  to 
the  Crown  of  Great  Britain,  upon  which  it  is  most 
directly  dependent ;  wherein  is  established  the  Church 
of  England,  free  from  faction  and  sects,  being  ruled  by 
the  laws,  customs  and  constitutions  of  Great  Britain, 
which  it  strictly  observes,  only  where  the  circum- 
stances and  occasion  of  the  country  by  an  absolute 
necessity  require  some  small  alterations  ;  which  never- 
theless must  not  be  contrary  (though  different  from 
and  subservient)  to  the  laws  of  England. 

Though  the  violence  of  neither  Whig  nor  Tory 
reigns  there,  yet  have  they  parties  ;  for  the  very  best 
administration  must  expect  to  meet  with  some  opposi- 
tion in  all  places,  especially  where  there  is  a  mixture 
of  people  of  different  countries  concerned,  whose  edu- 
cation and  interest  may  propose  to  them  notions  and 
views  different  from  each  other. 

Most  other  plantations,  especially  they  that  are 
granted  away  to  proprietors,  are  inferior  to  Virginia  ; 
where  the  seeming  interest  and  humor  of  the  owners 
often  divert  them  from  pursuit  of  the  most  proper 
methods  ;  besides,  they  cannot  have  such  a  right 
claim  to  the  favor  of  the  Crown,  nor  demand  its  best 
protection,  since  they  may  often  interfere  with  its 
interest  ;  whereas  Virginia  is  esteemed  one  of  the 
most  valuable  gems  in  the  Crown  of  Great  Britain. 

Thus  Virginia,  having  to  itself,  with  Maryland, 
the  staple  commodity  of  tobacco,  has  a  great  advan- 
tage of  all  other  plantations  on  the  continent  for  the 
encouragement  of  the  Crown  ;  whereas  others  belong- 


1 6  HUGH   JONES. 

ing  to  gentlemen,  or  having  no  peculiar  trade,  can- 
not expect  such  power  to  advance  and  improve  their 
interest. 

To  this  add  that  Virginia  equals,  if  not  exceeds, 
all  others  in  goodness  of  climate,  soil,  health,  rivers, 
plenty  and  all  necessaries  and  conveniences  of  life. 
Besides,  she  has,  among  others,  these  particular  advan- 
tages of  her  younger  sister  Maryland,  viz.,  freedom 
from  Popery  and  the  direction  of  proprietors  ;  not  but 
that  fart  of  Virginia  which  is  between  the  rivers  Poto- 
mac and  Rappahannock  belongs  to  proprietors,  as  to 
the  quit  rent,  yet  the  government  of  these  counties 
(called  the  Northern  Neck)  is  under  the  same  regula- 
tion with  the  other  parts  of  the  country. 

If  New  England  be  called  a  receptacle  of  Dissenters, 
and  an  Amsterdam  of  religion,  Pennsylvania  the  nursery 
of  Quakers,  Maryland  the  retirement  of  Roman  Catho- 
lics, North  Carolina  the  refuge  of  runaways,  and  South 
Carolina  the  delight  of  buccaneers  and  pirates,  Vir- 
ginia may  be  justly  esteemed  the  happy  retreat  of  true 
Britons  and  true  Churchmen  for  the  most  part  ;  neither 
soaring  too  high  nor  drooping  too  low,  consequently 
should  merit  the  greater  esteem  and  encouragement. 

The  common  planters,  leading  easy  lives,  do  not 
much  admire  labor,  or  any  manly  exercise,  except 
horse-racing,  nor  diversion,  except  cock-fighting,  in 
which  some  greatly  delight.  This  easy  way  of  living, 
and  the  heat  of  the  summer,  make  some  very  lazy, 
who  are  then  said  to  be  climate-struck. 

The  saddle  horses,  though  not  very  large,  are 
hardy,  strong  and  fleet,  and  will  pace  naturally  and 
pleasantly  at  a  prodigious  rate. 

They  are  such  lovers  of  riding  that  almost  every 


VIRGINIAN   TRAITS.  IJ 

ordinary  person  keeps  a  horse  ;  and  I  have  known 
some  spend  the  morning  in  ranging  several  miles  in 
the  woods  to  find  and  catch  their  horses  only  to  ride 
two  or  three  miles  to  church,  to  the  court-house,  or 
to  a  horse-race,  where  they  generally  appoint  to  meet 
upon  business,  and  are  more  certain  of  finding  those 
that  they  want  to  speak  or  deal  with,  than  at  their 
home. 

No  people  can  entertain  their  friends  with  better 
cheer  and  welcome  ;  and  strangers  and  travellers  are 
here  treated  in  the  most  free,  plentiful  and  hospitable 
manner  ;  so  that  a  few  inns  or  ordinaries  on  the  road 
are  sufficient.    .    .    . 

Some  planters,  etc.,  make  good  small  drinks  with 
cakes  of  persimmons,  a  kind  of  plums  which  grow 
there  in  great  plenty  ;  but  the  common  small  beer  is 
made  of  molasses,  which  makes  extraordinary  brisk 
good-tasted  liquor  at  a  cheap  rate,  with  little  trouble- 
in  brewing  ;  so  that  they  have  it  brisk  and  fresh  as 
they  want  it  in  winter  and  summer.  And  as  they 
brew,  so  do  they  bake  daily  bread  or  cakes,  eating  too 
much  hot  and  new  bread,  which  cannot  be  whole- 
some, though  it  be  pleasanter  than  what,  has  been 
baked  a  day  or  two. 

Some  raise  barley  and  make  malt  there,  and  others 
have  malt  from  England,  with  which  those  that  un- 
derstand it  brew  as  good  beer  as  in  England,  at  proper 
seasons  of  the  year  ;  but  the  common  strong  malt  drink 
mostly  used  is  Bristol  beer,  of  which  is  consumed  vast 
quantities  there  yearly  ;  which,  being  well  brewed  and 
improved  by  crossing  the  sea,  drinks  exceedingly  fine 
and  smooth  ;  but  malt  liquor  is  not  so  much  regarded 
as  wine,  rack,  brandy,  and  rum  punch,  with  drams 


1 8  HUGH   JONES. 

of  rum  or  brandy  for  the  common  sort,  when  they 
drink  in  a  hurry. 

The  common  wine  comes  from  Madeira  or  Fayal, 
which,  moderately  drunk,  is  fittest  to  cheer  the  faint- 
ing spirits  in  the  heat  of  summer,  and  to  warm  the 
chilled  blood  in  the  bitter  colds  of  winter,  and  seems 
most  peculiarly  adapted  for  this  climate.  Besides  this, 
are  plentifully  drunk  with  the  better  sort,  of  late  years, 
all  kinds  of  French  and  other  European  wine,  especially 
claret  and  port. 

Here  is  likewise  used  a  great  deal  of  chocolate,  tea 
and  coffee,  which,  with  several  sorts  of  apparel,  they 
have  as  cheap  or  cheaper  than  in  England,  because 
of  the  debenture  of  such  goods  upon  their  exportation 
thither.  Besides,  they  are  allowed  to  have  wines 
directly  from  Madeira,  and  other  commodities  are 
brought  from  the  West  Indies  and  the  Continent, 
which  cannot  be  brought  to  England  without  spoiling. 

As  for  grinding  corn,  etc.,  they  have  good  mills 
upon  the  runs  and  creeks  ;  besides  hand-mills,  wind- 
mills, and  the  Indian  invention  of  pounding  hominy 
in  mortars  burned  in  the  stump  of  a  tree,  with  a  log 
for  a  pestje  hanging  at  the  end  of  a  pole,  fixed  like  the 
pole  of  a  lave. 

Though  they  are  permitted  to  trade  to  no  parts  but 
Great  Britain,  except  these  places,  yet  have  they  in 
many  respects  better  and  cheaper  commodities  than 
we  in  England,  especially  of  late  years  ;  for  the  coun- 
try may  be  said  to  be  altered  and  improved  in  wealth 
and  polite  living  within  these  few  years,  since  the  be- 
ginning of  Col.  Spots  wood's  government,  more  than  in 
all  the  scores  of  years  before  that,  from  its  first  discovery. 
The  country  is  yearly  supplied  with  vast  quantities  of 


VIRGINIAN   TRAITS.  1 9 

goods  from  Great  Britain,  chiefly  from  London,  Bristol, 
Liverpool,  Whitehaven,  and  from  Scotland. 

The  ships  that  transport  these  things  often  call  at 
Ireland  to  victual,  and  bring  over  frequently  white 
servants,  which  are  of  three  kinds  :  1 .  Such  as  come 
upon  certain  wages  by  agreement  for  a  certain  time. 

2.  Such  as  come  bound  by  indenture,  commonly 
called  kids,  who  are  usually  to  serve  four  or  five  years. 

3.  Those  convicts  or  felons  that  are  transported, 
whose  room  they  had  much  rather  have  than  their 
company  ;  for  abundance  of  them  do  great  mischiefs, 
commit  robbery  and  murder,  and  spoil  servants  that 
were  before  very  good.  But  they  frequently  there 
meet  with  the  end  they  deserved  at  home,  though  in- 
deed some  of  them  prove  indifferent  good.  Their 
being  sent  thither  to  work  as  slaves  for  punishment  is 
but  a  mere  notion,  for  few  of  them  ever  lived  so  well 
and  so  easy  before,  especially  if  they  are  good  for 
anything.  These  are  to  serve  seven,  and  sometimes 
fourteen  years,  and  they,  and  servants  by  indentures, 
have  an  allowance  of  corn  and  clothes  when  they  are 
out  of  their  time,  that  they  may  be  therewith  sup- 
ported till  they  can  be  provided  with  service  or  other- 
wise settled.  With  these  three  sorts  of  servants  are 
they  supplied  from  England,  Wales,  Scotland,  and 
Ireland,  among  which  they  that  have  a  mind  to  it 
may  serve  their  time  with  ease  and  satisfaction  to 
themselves  and  their  masters,  especially  if  they  fall 
into  good  hands.  Except  the  last  sort,  for  the  most 
part  who  are  loose  villains,  made  tame  by  Wild  and 
then  enslaved  by  his  forward  namesake.  To  prevent 
too  great  a  stock  of  which  servants  and  negroes,  many 
attempts  and  laws  have  been  in  vain  made. 


20  HUGH   JONES. 

These,  if  they  forsake  their  roguery,  together  with 
the  other  kids  of  the  later  Jonathan,  when  they  are 
free,  may  work  day  labor,  or  else  rent  a  small  planta- 
tion for  a  trifle  almost  ;  or  else  turn  overseers,  if  they 
are  expert,  industrious,  and  careful,  or  follow  their 
trade,  if  they  have  been  brought  up  to  any,  especially 
smiths,  carpenters,  tailors,  sawyers,  coopers,  brick- 
layers, etc.  The  plenty  of  the  country  and  the  good 
wages  given  to  workfolks  occasion  very  few  poor,  who 
are  supported  by  the  parish,  being  such  as  are  lame, 
sick,  or  decrepit  through  age,  distempers,  accidents 
or  some  infirmities  ;  for  where  there  is  a  numerous 
family  of  poor  children,  the  vestry  takes  care  to  bind 
them  out  apprentices  till  they  are  able  to  maintain 
themselves  by  their  own  labor  ;  by  which  means  they 
are  never  tormented  with  vagrant  and  vagabond  beg- 
gars, there  being  a  reward  for  taking  up  runaways 
that  are  at  a  small  distance  from  their  home,  if  they 
are  not  known  or  are  without  a  pass  from  their  mas- 
ter, and  can  give  no  good  account  of  themselves, 
especially  negroes. 


WILLIAM    BYRD. 

William  Byrd,  one  of  the  most  prominent  mem- 
bers of  the  Virginia  Colonial  Aristocracy,  was  born  on 
the  magnificent  ancestral  estate  of  Westover  on  the 
James  River  in  1674,  anc*  died  there  in  1744.  The 
son  of  a  distinguished  colonial  official  of  like  name, 
he  travelled  in  Europe,  was  educated  in  England  for 
the  law,  and  thrice  visited  that  country  as  agent  of 
his  colony.  He  was  a  member  of  the  King's  Coun- 
cil for  thirty-seven  years,  and  finally,  its  President. 
He  accumulated  great  wealth,  lived  in  lordly  state,  and 
gathered  the  most  valuable  library  in  the  colony.  Its 
catalogue  counts  3438  volumes.  He  did  much  to 
encourage  emigration,  was  founder  of  the  city  of 
Richmond,  and  somewhat  of  an  explorer.  The  West- 
over  Manuscripts  first  printed  at  Petersburg,  Virginia, 
in  1 84 1,  contain  an  account  of  his  experiences  as 
Commissioner  of  his  colony  in  determining  the  border 
line  between  Virginia  and  North  Carolina  in  1728, 
together  with  a  journey  undertaken  with  a  friend  to 
survey  a  grant  of  land  on  which  he  expected  to  ex- 
ploit iron  mines,  and  another  frontier  journey  to  mines 
already  in  operation.  All  these  tracts,  the  titles  of 
which  are  given  in  connection  with  the  citations  made 
from  them,  are  remarkable  for  their  vigorous  style, 
their  shrewd  humor,  and  their  valuable  observations 
of  an  economic  nature.      Byrd  was  one  of  the  most 


22  WILLIAM    BYRD. 

cultivated  Americans  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and 
would  have  been  an  ornament  to  any  society.  He 
was  at  his  best  perhaps  as  a  student  of  economics  and 
affairs,  but  he  had  also  in  him  the  makings  of  a  great 
writer.  Although  far  from  the  centres  of  culture,  he 
was  a  patron  of  art  and  science  and  a  Fellow  of  the 
Royal  Society  of  Great  Britain.  A  new  edition  of 
his  writings,  superintended  by  Prof.  J.  S.  Bassett, 
is  now  in  press,  and  his  letters  are  promised  in  the 
Virginia  Magazine  of  History  and  Biography. 


NORTH    CAROLINA   HUSBANDRY. 

[From  "The  History  of  the  Dividing  Line."] 

[March]  ioth  [1728].  The  Sabbath  happened 
very  opportunely  to  give  some  ease  to  our  jaded 
people,  who  rested  religiously  from  every  work,  but 
that  of  cooking  the  kettle.  We  observed  very  few 
cornfields  in  our  walks,  and  those  very  small,  which 
seemed  the  stranger  to  us,  because  we  could  see  no 
other  token  of  husbandry  or  improvement.  But, 
upon  further  inquiry,  we  were  given  to  understand 
people  only  made  corn  for  themselves  and  not  for 
their  stocks,  which  know  very  well  how  to  get  their 
own  living.  Both  cattle  and  hogs  ramble  into  the 
neighboring  marshes  and  swamps,  where  they  main- 
tain themselves  the  whole  winter  long,  and  are  not 
fetched  home  till  the  spring.  Thus  these  indolent 
wretches,  during  one  half  of  the  year,  lose  the  advan- 
tage of  the  milk  of  their  cattle  as  well  as  their  dung, 
and  many  of  the  poor  creatures  perish  in  the  mire, 


ASYLUM    FOR   RUNAWAY    SLAVES.       23 

into  the  bargain,  by  this  ill-management.  Some  who 
pique  themselves  more  upon  industry  than  their 
neighbors,  will,  now  and  then,  in  compliment  to  their 
cattle,  cut  down  a  tree  whose  limbs  are  loaded  with 
the  moss  afore-mentioned.  The  trouble  would  be 
too  great  to  climb  the  tree  in  order  to  gather  this 
provender,  but  the  shortest  way  (which  in  this  country 
is  always  counted  the  best)  is  to  fell  it,  just  like  the 
lazy  Indians,  who  do  the  same  by  such  trees  as  bear 
fruit,  and  so  make  one  harvest  for  all. 


AN   ASYLUM    FOR   RUNAWAY   SLAVES. 

[From  the  Same.] 

[March]  1  ith  [1728].  .  .  .  We  had  encamped 
so  early,  that  we  found  time  in  the  evening  to  walk  near 
half  a  mile  into  the  woods.  There  we  came  upon  a 
family  of  mulattoes  that  called  themselves  free,  though 
by  the  shyness  of  the  master  of  the  house,  who  took 
care  to  keep  least  in  sight,  their  freedom  seemed  a  little 
doubtful.  It  is  certain  many  slaves  shelter  themselves 
in  this  obscure  part  of  the  world,  nor  will  any  of 
their  righteous  neighbors  discover  them.  On  the 
contrary,  they  find  their  account  in  settling  such  fugi- 
tives on  some  out-of-the-way  corner  of  their  land,  to 
raise  stocks  for  a  mean  and  inconsiderable  share, 
well-knowing  their  condition  makes  it  necessary  for 
them  to  submit  to  any  terms.  Nor  were  these 
worthy  borderers  content  to  shelter  runaway  slaves, 
but  debtors  and  criminals  have  often  met  with  the 
like  indulgence.      But  if   the  government  of   North 


24  WILLIAM    BYRD. 

Carolina  has  encouraged  this  unneighhorly  policy  in 
order  to  increase  their  people,  it  is  no  more  than  what 
ancient  Rome  did  before  them,  which  was  made  a 
city  of  refuge  for  all  debtors  and  fugitives,  and  from 
that  wretched  beginning  grew  up  in  time  to  be  mis- 
tress of  a  great  part  of  the  world.  And,  considering 
how  fortune  delights  in  bringing  great  things  out  of 
small,  who  knows  but  Carolina  may,  one  time  or 
other,  come  to  be  the  seat  of  some  other  great 
empire  ? 


RUNNING   THE   BOUNDARY   LINE 
THROUGH   THE    DISMAL  SWAMP. 

[From    the    Same.] 

[March]  14th  [1728].  Before  nine  of  the  clock 
this  morning,  the  provisions,  bedding  and  other 
necessaries,  were  made  up  into  packs  for  the  men  to 
carry  on  their  shoulders  into  the  Dismal.  They 
were  victualled  for  eight  days  at  full  allowance,  no- 
body doubting  but  that  would  be  abundantly  suffi- 
cient to  carry  them  through  that  inhospitable  place  ; 
nor  indeed  was  it  possible  for  the  poor  fellows  to 
stagger  under  more.  As  it  was,  their  loads  weighed 
from  60  to  70  pounds,  in  just  proportion  to  the 
strength  of  those  who  were  to  bear  them.  It  would 
have  been  unconscionable  to  have  saddled  them  with 
burdens  heavier  than  that,  when  they  were  to  lug 
them  through  a  filthy  bog  which  was  hardly  practi- 
cable with  no  burdens  at  all.      Besides  this  luggage  at 


THROUGH    THE    DISMAL   SWAMP.  25 

their  backs,  they  were  obliged  to  measure  the  distance, 
mark  the  trees,  and  clear  the  way  for  the  surveyors 
every  step  they  went.  It  was  really  a  pleasure  to  see 
with  how  much  cheerfulness  they  undertook,  and 
with  how  much  spirit  they  went  through  all  this 
drudgery.  For  their  greater  safety,  the  commissioners 
took  care  to  furnish  them  with  Peruvian  bark,  rhubarb, 
and  hipocoacanah,  in  case  they  might  happen,  in  that 
wet  journey,  to  be  taken  with  fevers  or  fluxes.  Al- 
though there  was  no  need  of  example  to  inflame  per- 
sons already  so  cheerful,  yet  to  enter  the  people  with 
the  better  grace,  the  author  and  two  more  of  the 
commissioners  accompanied  them  half  a  mile  into  the 
Dismal.  The  skirts  of  it  were  thinly  planted  with 
dwarf  reeds  and  gall  bushes,  but  when  we  got  into 
the  Dismal  itself,  we  found  the  reeds  grew  there  much 
taller  and  closer,  and  to  mend  the  matter  were  so 
interlaced  with  bamboo-briers,  that  there  was  no 
scuffling  through  them  without  the  help  of  pioneers. 
At  the  same  time,  we  found  the  ground  moist  and 
trembling  under  our  feet  like  a  quagmire,  insomuch 
that  it  was  an  easy  matter  to  run  a  ten  foot  pole  to 
the  head  in  it,  without  exerting  any  uncommon 
strength  to  do  it.  Two  of  the  men,  whose  burdens 
were  the  least  cumbersome,  had  orders  to  march 
before,  with  their  tomahawks,  and  clear  the  way,  in 
order  to  make  an  opening  for  the  surveyors.  By 
their  assistance  we  made  a  shift  to  push  the  line  half 
a  mile  in  three  hours,  and  then  reached  a  small  piece 
of  firm  land,  about  100  yards  wide,  standing  up 
above  the  rest  like  an  island.  Here  the  people  were 
glad  to  lay  down  their  loads  and  take  a  little  refresh- 
ment,   while  the  happy  man,   whose  lot   it  was   to 


26  WILLIAM    BYRD. 

carry  the  jug  of  rum,  began  already,  like  ^£sop's 
bread-carriers,  to  find  it  grow  a  good  deal  lighter. 

17th.  .  .  .  Since  the  surveyors  had  entered  the 
Dismal  they  had  laid  eyes  on  no  living  creature  ; 
neither  bird  nor  beast,  insect  nor  reptile  came  in 
view.  Doubtless  the  eternal  shade  that  broods  over 
this  mighty  bog,  and  hinders  the  sunbeams  from  bless- 
ing the  ground,  makes  it  an  uncomfortable  habitation 
for  anything  that  has  life.  Not  so  much  as  a  Zealand 
frog  could  endure  so  aguish  a  situation.  It  had  one 
beauty,  however,  that  delighted  the  eye,  though  at 
the  expense  of  all  the  other  senses  :  the  moisture  of 
the  soil  preserves  a  continual  verdure,  and  makes 
every  plant  an  evergreen,  but  at  the  same  time  the 
foul  damps  ascend  without  ceasing,  corrupt  the  air, 
and  render  it  unfit  for  respiration.  Not  even  a  turkey 
buzzard  will  venture  to  fly  over  it,  no  more  than  the 
Italian  vultures  will  over  the  filthy  lake  Avernus  or 
the  birds  in  the  holy  land  over  the  salt  sea  where 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah  formerly  stood. 

In  these  sad  circumstances  the  kindest  thing  we 
could  do  for  our  suffering  friends  was  to  give  them  a 
place  in  the  Litany.  Our  chaplain  for  his  part  did 
his  office,  and  rubbed  us  up  with  a  seasonable  sermon. 
This  was  quite  a  new  thing  to  our  brethern  of  North 
Carolina,  who  live  in  a  climate  where  no  clergyman 
can  breathe,  any  more  than  spiders  in  Ireland. 

We  ordered  several  men  to  patrol  on  the  edge  of 
the  Dismal,  both  toward  the  North  and  toward  the 
South,  and  to  fire  guns  at  proper  distances.  This 
they  performed  very  punctually,  but  could  hear  noth- 
ing in  return,  nor  gain  any  sort  of  intelligence.  In 
the  meantime  whole  flocks  of  women  and  children 


THROUGH    THE   DISMAL   SWAMP.  27 

flew  hither  to  stare  at  us,  with  as  much  curiosity  as 
if  we  had  lately  landed  from  Bantam  or  Morocco. 
Some  borderers,  too,  had  a  great  mind  to  know  where 
the  line  would  come  out,  being  for  the  most  part 
apprehensive  lest  their  lands  should  be  taken  into 
Virginia.  In  that  case  they  must  have  submitted  to 
some  sort  of  order  and  government  ;  whereas,  in 
North  Carolina,  every  one  does  what  seems  best  in 
his  own  eyes.  There  were  some  good  women  that 
brought  their  children  to  be  baptized,  but  brought  no 
capons  along  with  them  to  make  the  solemnity  cheer- 
ful. Jn  the  meantime  it  was  strange  that  none  came 
to  be  married  in  such  a  multitude,  if  it  had  only  been 
for  the  novelty  of  having  their  hands  joined  by  one 
in  holy  orders.  Yet  so  it  was,  that  though  our 
chaplain  christened  above  an  hundred,  he  did  not 
marry  so  much  as  one  couple  during  the  whole  ex- 
pedition. But  marriage  is  reckoned  a  lay  contract  in 
Carolina,  as  I  said  before,  and  a  country  justice  can 
tie  the  fatal  knot  there,  as  fast  as  an  archbishop. 

None  of  our  visitors  could,  however,  tell  us  any 
news  of  the  surveyors,  nor  indeed  was  it  possible  any 
of  them  should  at  that  time,  they  being  still  laboring 
in  the  midst  of  the  Dismal. 

It  seems  they  were  able  to  carry  the  line  this  day 
no  further  than  one  mile  and  sixty-one  poles,  and 
that  whole  distance  was  through  a  miry  cedar  bog, 
where  the  ground  trembled  under  their  feet  most 
frightfully.  In  many  places,  too,  their  passage  was 
retarded  by  a  great  number  of  fallen  trees,  that  lay 
horsing  upon  one  another. 

Though  many  circumstances  concurred  to  make 
this  an  unwholesome  situation,  yet  the  poor  men  had 


28  WILLIAM    BYRD. 

no  time  to  be  sick,  nor  can  one  conceive  a  more 
calamitous  case  than  it  would  have  been  to  be  laid  up 
in  that  uncomfortable  quagmire.  Never  were  patients 
more  tractable,  or  willing  to  take  physic,  than  these 
honest  fellows  ;  but  it  was  from  a  dread  of  laying 
their  bones  in  a  bog  that  would  soon  spew  them  up 
again.  That  consideration  also  put  them  upon  more 
caution  about  their  lodging. 

They  first  covered  the  ground  with  square  pieces 
of  cypress  bark,  which  now,  in  the  spring,  they  could 
easily  slip  off  the  tree  for  that  purpose.  On  this  they 
spread  their  bedding  ;  but  unhappily  the  weight  and 
warmth  of  their  bodies  made  the  water  rise  up  betwixt 
the  joints  of  the  bark,  to  their  great  inconvenience. 
Thus  they  lay  not  only  moist,  but  also  exceedingly 
cold,  because  their  fires  were  continually  going  out. 
For  no  sooner  was  the  trash  upon  the  surface  burnt 
away,  but  immediately  the  fire  was  extinguished  by 
the  moisture  of  the  soil,  insomuch  that  it  was  great 
part  of  the  sentinel's  business  to  rekindle  it  again  in  a 
fresh  place,  every  quarter  of  an  hour.  Nor  could 
they  indeed  do  their  duty  better,  because  cold  was 
the  only  enemy  they  had  to  guard  against  in  a  miser- 
able morass,  where  nothing  can  inhabit. 

20th.  We  could  get  no  tidings  yet  of  our  brave 
adventurers,  notwithstanding  we  dispatched  men  to 
the  likeliest  stations  to  inquire  after  them.  They 
were  still  scuffling  in  the  mire,  and  could  not  possibly 
forward  the  line  this  whole  day  more  than  one  mile 
and  sixty-four  chains.  Every  step  of  this  day's 
work  was  through  a  cedar  bog,  where  the  trees  were 
somewhat  smaller  and  grew  more  into  a  thicket.  It 
was  now  a  great  misfortune  to  the  men  to  find  their 


THROUGH    THE    DISMAL   SWAMP.  29 

provisions  grow  less  as  their  labor  grew  greater  ;  they 
were  all  forced  to  come  to  short  allowance,  and  con- 
sequently to  work  hard  without  rilling  their  bellies. 
Though  this  was  very  severe  upon  English  stomachs, 
yet  the  people  were  so  far  from  being  discomfited  at 
it,  that  they  still  kept  up  their  good-humor,  and 
merrily  told  a  young  fellow  in  the  company,  who 
looked  very  plump  and  wholesome,  that  he  must 
expect  to  go  first  to  pot,  if  matters  should  come  to 
extremity. 

This  was  only  said  by  way  of  jest,  yet  it  made  him 
thoughtful  in  earnest.  However,  for  the  present  he 
returned  them  a  very  civil  answer,  letting  them  know 
that,  dead  or  alive,  he  should  be  glad  to  be  useful  to 
such  worthy  good  friends.  But,  after  all,  this 
humorous  saying  had  one  very  good  effect,  for  that 
younker,  who  before  was  a  little  inclined  by  his 
constitution  to  be  lazy,  grew  on  a  sudden  extremely 
industrious,  that  so  there  might  be  less  occasion  to 
carbonade  him  for  the  good  of  his  fellow-travel- 
lers.   .    .    . 

2 1  st.  The  surveyors  and  their  attendants  began 
now  in  good  earnest  to  be  alarmed  with  apprehensions 
of  famine,  nor  could  they  forbear  looking  with  some 
sort  of  appetite  upon  a  dog  which  had  been  the  faith- 
ful companion  of  their  travels. 

Their  provisions  were  now  near  exhausted.  They 
had  this  morning  made  the  last  distribution,  that  so 
each  might  husband  his  small  pittance  as  he  pleased. 
Now  it  was  that  the  fresh  colored  young  man  began 
to  tremble  every  joint  of  him,  having  dreamed,  the 
night  before,  that  the  Indians  were  about  to  barbecue 
him  over  live  coals. 


30  WILLIAM    BYRD. 

The  prospect  of  famine  determined  the  people,  at 
last,  with  one  consent,  to  abandon  the  line  for  the 
present,  which  advanced  but  slowly,  and  make  the 
best  of  their  way  to  firm  land.  Accordingly  they 
set  ofF  very  early,  and,  by  the  help  of  the  compass 
which  they  carried  along  with  them,  steered  a  direct 
westerly  course.  They  marched  from  morning  till 
night,  and  computed  their  journey  to  amount  to  about 
four  miles,  which  was  a  great  way,  considering  the 
difficulties  of  the  ground.  It  was  all  along  a  cedar- 
swamp,  so  dirty  and"  perplexed,  that  if  they  had  not 
travelled  for  their  lives,  they  could  not  have  reached 
so  far. 

On  their  way  they  espied  a  turkey-buzzard,  that 
flew  prodigeously  high  to  get  above  the  noisome  ex- 
halations that  ascend  from  that  filthy  place.  This 
they  were  willing  to  understand  as  a  good  omen, 
according  to  the  superstition  of  the  ancients,  who 
had  great  faith  in  the  flight  of  vultures.  However, 
after  all  this  tedious  journey,  they  could  yet  discover 
no  end  of  their  toil,  which  made  them  very  pensive, 
especially  after  they  had  eat  the  last  morsel  of  their 
provisions.  But  to  their  unspeakable  comfort,  when 
all  was  hushed  in  the  evening,  they  heard  the  cattle 
low,  and  the  dogs  bark,  very  distinctly,  which,  to 
men  in  that  distress,  was  more  delightful  music  than 
Faustina  or  Farinelli  could  have  made.  In  the 
mean  time  the  commissioners  could  get  no  news  of 
them  from  any  of  their  visitors,  who  assembled  from 
every  point  of  the  compass.    .    .    . 

22nd.  However  long  we  might  think  the  time, 
yet  we  were  cautious  of  showing  our  uneasiness,  for 
fear  of  mortifying  our  landlord.      He  had  done  his 


THROUGH    THE    DISMAL    SWAMP.  3 1 

best  for  us,  and  therefore  we  were  unwilling  he 
should  think  us  dissatisfied  with  our  entertainment. 
In  the  midst  of  our  concern,  we  were  most  agreeably 
surprised,  just  after  dinner,  with  the  news  that  the 
Dismalites  were  all  safe.  These  blessed  tidings  were 
brought  to  us  by  Mr.  Swan,  the  Carolina  surveyor, 
who  came  to  us  in  a  very  tattered  condition. 

After  very  short  salutations,  we  got  about  him  as  if 
he  had  been  a  Hottentot,  and  began  to  inquire  into  his 
adventures.  He  gave  us  a  detail  of  their  uncomfort- 
able voyage  through  the  Dismal,  and  told  us,  particu- 
larly, they  had  pursued  their  journey  early  that 
morning,  encouraged  by  the  good  omen  of  seeing  the 
crows  fly  over  their  heads  ;  that,  after  an  hour's 
march  over  very  rotten  ground,  they,  on  a  sudden, 
began  to  find  themselves  among  tall  pines,  that  grew 
in  the  water,  which  in  many  places  was  knee-deep. 
This  pine  swamp,  into  which  that  of  Coropeak 
drained  itself,  extended  near  a  mile  in  breadth  ;  and 
though  it  was  exceedingly  wet,  yet  it  was  much 
harder  at  bottom  than  the  rest  of  the  swamp  ;  that 
about  ten  in  the  morning  they  recovered  firm  land, 
which  they  embraced  with  as  much  pleasure  as  ship- 
wrecked wretches  do  the  shore. 

After  these  honest  adventurers  had  congratulated 
each  other's  deliverance,  their  first  inquiry  was  for 
a  good  house,  where  they  might  satisfy  the  importunity 
of  their  stomachs.  Their  good  genius  directed  them 
to  Mr.  Brinkley's,  who  dwells  a  little  to  the  south- 
ward of  the  line.  This  man  began  immediately  to 
be  very  inquisitive,  but  they  declared  they  had  no 
spirits  left  to  answer  questions  till  after  dinner. 

*'  But  pray,   gentlemen,"    said  he,    ««  answer  me 


32  WILLIAM    BYRD. 

one  question,  at  least  :  what  shall  we  get  for  your 
dinner?"  To  which  they  replied,  f*  No  matter 
what,  so  it  be  but  enough."  He  kindly  supplied 
their  wants  as  soon  as  possible,  and  by  the  strength 
or  that  refreshment  they  made  a  shift  to  come  to  us 
in  the  evening,  to  tell  their  own  story.  They  all 
looked  very  thin,  and  as  ragged  as  the  Gibeonite 
ambassadors  did  in  the  days  of  yore.  Our  surveyors 
told  us  they  had  measured  ten  miles  in  the  Dismal, 
and  computed  the  distance  they  had  marched  since 
to  amount  to  about  five  more,  so  they  made  the 
whole  breadth  to  be  fifteen  miles  in  all. 


RELIGION    ON    THE    CAROLINA    FRON- 
TIER. 

[From  the  Same.] 

[March]  17th  [1728]  .  .  .  For  want  of  men 
in  Holy  Orders  both  the  members  of  the  Council  and 
Justices  of  the  Peace  are  empowered  by  the  laws  of 
that  country  to  marry  all  those  who  will  not  take  one 
another's  word  ;  but  for  the  ceremony  of  christening 
their  children  they  trust  that  to  chance.  If  a  parson 
come  in  their  way,  they  will  crave  a  cast  of  his  office, 
as  they  call  it,  else  they  are  content  their  offspring 
should  remain  as  arrant  pagans  as  themselves.  They 
account  it  among  their  greatest  advantages  that  they 
are  not  priest-ridden,  not  remembering  that  the  clergy 
is  rarely  guilty  of  bestriding  such  as  have  the  misfor- 
tune to  be  poor.  One  thing  may  be  said  for  the  in- 
habitants of  that  province,  that  they  are  not  troubled 


RELIGION    ON    THE    FRONTIER.  33 

with  any  religious  fumes,  and  have  the  least  supersti- 
tion of  any  people  living.  They  do  not  know  Sunday 
from  any  other  day,  any  more  than  Robinson  Crusoe 
did,  which  would  give  them  a  great  advantage  were 
they  given  to  be  industrious.  But  they  keep  so  many 
Sabbaths  every  week,  that  their  disregard  of  the  seventh 
day  has  no  manner  of  cruelty  in  it,  either  to  servants 
or  cattle. 

1 6th  .  .  .  We  passed  by  no  less  than  two  quaker 
meeting-houses,  one  of  which  had  an  awkward  orna- 
ment on  the  west  end  of  it,  that  seemed  to  ape  a 
steeple.  I  must  own  I  expected  no  such  piece  of 
foppery  from  a  sect  of  so  much  outside  simplicity. 
That  persuasion  prevails  much  in  the  lower  end  of 
Nansemond  County,  for  want  of  ministers  to  pilot  the 
people  a  decenter  way  to  heaven.  The  ill  reputation 
of  tobacco  planted  in  those  lower  parishes  makes  the 
clergy  unwilling  to  accept  of  them  unless  it  be  such 
whose  abilities  are  as  mean  as  their  pay.  Thus, 
whether  the  churches  be  quite  void  or  but  indiffer- 
ently filled,  the  quakers  will  have  an  opportunity  of 
g lining  proselytes.  It  is  a  wonder  no  popish  mission- 
aries are  sent  from  Maryland  to  labor  in  this  neglected 
vineyard,  who  we  know  have  zeal  enough  to  traverse 
sea  and  land  on  the  meritorious  errand  of  making  con- 
verts. Nor  is  it  less  strange  that  some  wolf  in  sheep's 
clothing  arrives  not  from  New  England  to  lead  astray 
a  flock  that  has  no  shepherd.  People  uninstructed  in 
any  religion  are  ready  to  embrace  the  first  that  offers. 
It  is  natural  for  helpless  man  to  adore  his  Maker  in 
some  form  or  other,  and  were  there  any  exception  to 
this  rule,  I  should  suspect  it  to  be  among  the  Hotten- 
tots of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  of  North  Carolina. 


34  WILLIAM    BYRD. 

COLONIAL    CONVIVIAL   CUSTOMS. 

[From  the  Same.] 

[March]  26th.  [1728].  Since  we  were  like  to 
be  confined  to  this  place  till  the  people  returned  out 
of  the  Dismal,  it  was  agreed  that  our  chaplain  might 
safely  take  a  turn  to  Edenton,  to  preach  the  Gospel 
to  the  infidels  there,  and  christen  their  children.  He 
was  accompanied  thither  by  Mr.  Little,  one  of  the 
Carolina  Commissioners,  who,  to  show  his  regard 
for  the  Church,  offered  to  treat  him  on  the  road  with 
a  fricassee  of  rum.  They  fried  half  a  dozen  rashers  of 
very  fat  bacon  in  a  pint  of  rum,  both  which  being 
dished  up  together,  served  the  company  at  once  both 
for  meat  and  drink.  Most  of  the  rum  they  get  in 
this  country  comes  from  New  England.,  and  is  so  bad 
and  unwholesome,  that  it  is  not  improperly  called 
"kill-devil."  It  is  distilled  there  from  foreign  mo- 
lasses, which,  if  skilfully  managed,  yields  near  gallon 
for  gallon.  Their  molasses  comes  from  the  same 
country,  and  has  the  name  of  *f  long  sugar  "  in  Caro- 
lina, I  suppose  from  the  ropiness  of  it,  and  serves  all 
the  purposes  of  sugar,  both  in  their  eating  and  drink- 
ing. When  they  entertain  their  friends  bountifully, 
they  fail  not  to  set  before  them  a  capacious  bowl  of 
Bombo,  so  called  from  the  Admiral  of  that  name.  This 
is  a  compound  of  rum  and  water  in  equal  parts,  made 
palatable  with  the  said  "  long  sugar."  As  good  humor 
begins  to  flow,  and  the  bowl  to  ebb,  they  take  care  to 
replenish  it  with  sheer  rum,  of  which  there  is  always  a 
reserve  under  the  table.  But  such  generous  doings 
happen  only  when  that  balsam  of  life  is  plenty.  .  .  . 


PRIMITIVE    DENTISTRY.  35 

PRIMITIVE    DENTISTRY. 

[From   "A  Journey   to   the    Land    of    Eden."] 

[Oct.  ]  9th  [1733].  Major  Mayo' s  survey  being 
no  more  than  half  done,  we  were  obliged  to  amuse 
ourselves  another  day  in  this  place.  And  that  the 
time  might  not  be  quite  lost,  we  put  our  garments  and 
baggage  into  good  repair.  I  for  my  part  never  spent 
a  day  so  well  during  the  whole  voyage.  I  had  an 
impertinent  tooth  in  my  upper  jaw,  that  had  been 
loose  for  some  time,  and  made  me  chew  with  great 
caution.  Particularly  I  could  not  grind  a  biscuit  but 
with  much  deliberation  and  presence  of  mind.  Tooth- 
drawers  we  had  none  amongst  us,  nor  any  of  the 
instruments  they  make  use  of.  However,  invention 
supplied  this  want  very  happily,  and  I  contrived  to  get 
rid  of  this  troublesome  companion  by  cutting  a  caper. 
I  caused  a  twine  to  be  fastened  round  the  root  of  my 
tooth,  about  a  fathom  in  length,  and  then  tied  the  other 
end  to  the  snag  of  a  log  that  lay  upon  the  ground,  in 
such  a  manner  that  I  could  just  stand  upright.  Hav- 
ing adjusted  my  string  in  this  manner,  I  bent  my  knees 
enough  to  enable  me  to  spring  vigorously  off  the  ground, 
as  perpendicularly  as  I  could.  The  force  of  the  leap 
drew  out  the  tooth  with  so  much  ease  that  I  felt  noth- 
ing of  it,  nor  should  have  believed  it  was  come  away, 
unless  I  had  seen  it  dangling  at  the  end  of  the  string. 
An  under  tooth  may  be  fetched  out  by  standing  off 
the  ground  and  fastening  your  string  at  due  distance 
above  you.  And  having  so  fixed  your  gear,  jump 
off  your  standing,  and  the  weight  of #  your  body, 
added   to   the  force  of  the  spring,  will  prize  out  your 


36  WILLIAM    BYRD. 

tooth  with  less  pain  than  any  operator  upon  earth  could 
draw  it. 

This  new  way  of  tooth-drawing,  being  so  silently 
and  deliberately  performed,  both  surprised  and  de- 
lighted all  that  were  present,  who  could  not  guess 
what  I  was  going  about.  I  immediately  found  the 
benefit  of  getting  rid  of  this  troublesome  companion, 
by  eating  my  supper  with  more  comfort  than  I  had 
done  during  the  whole  expedition. 

A    PIONEER    MINER'S    MANSION. 

[From   "A  Progress  to  the  Mines  in  the  Year 
■732-"] 

[Sept.]  27th  [1732]  .  .  .  I  rode  eight  miles 
together  over  a  stony  road  and  had  on  either  hand 
continual  poisoned  fields,  with  nothing  but  saplings 
growing  on  them.  Then  I  came  into  the  main  coun- 
try road  that  leads  from  Fredericksburg  to  Germanna, 
which  last  place  I  reached  in  ten  miles  more.  This 
famous  town  consists  of  Colonel  Spotswood's  en- 
chanted castle  on  one  side  of  the  street,  and  a  baker's 
dozen  of  ruinous  tenements  on  the  other,  where  so 
many  German  families  had  dwelt  some  years  ago  ; 
but  are  now  removed  ten  miles  higher,  in  the  Fork 
of  Rappahannock,  to  land  of  their  own.  There  had 
also  been  a  chapel  about  a  bow-shot  from  the  colonel's 
house,  at  the  end  of  an  avenue  of  cherry  trees,  but 
some  pious  people  had  lately  burnt  it  down,  with  in- 
tent to  get  another  built  nearer  to  their  own  homes. 
Here  I  arrived  about  three  o'clock,  and  found  only 
Mrs.  Spotswood  at  home,  who  received  her  old  ac- 


A    PIONEER   MINER'S    MANSION.         37 

quaintance  with  many  a  gracious  smile.  I  was  car- 
ried into  a  room  elegantly  set  off  with  .pier  glasses, 
the  largest  of  which  came  soon  after  to  an  odd  mis- 
fortune. Amongst  other  favorite  animals  that  cheered 
this  lady's  solitude,  a  brace  of  tame  deer  ran  familiarly 
about  the  house,  and  one  of  them  came  to  stare  at 
me  as  a  stranger.  But  unluckily  spying  his  own  fig- 
ure in  the  glass,  he  made  a  spring  over  the  tea-table 
that  stood  under  it,  and  shattered  the  glass  to  pieces, 
and  falling  back  upon  the  tea-table  made  a  terrible  fra- 
cas among  the  china.  This  exploit  was  so  sudden, 
and  accompanied  with  such  a  noise,  that  it  surprised 
me,  and  perfectly  frightened  Mrs.  Spotswood.  But 
'twas  worth  all  the  damage  to  show  the  moderation 
and  good  humor  with  which  she  bore  this  disaster. 
In  the  evening  the  noble  colonel  came  home  from  his 
mines,  who  saluted  me  very  civilly,  and  Mrs.  Spots- 
wood's  sister,  Miss  Theky,  who  had  been  to  meet 
him  en  cavalier,  was  so  kind  too  as  to  bid  me  wel- 
come. We  talked  over  a  legend  of  old  stories,  supped 
about  9,  and  then  prattled  with  the  ladies,  till  it  was 
time  for  a  traveller  to  retire.  In  the  mean  time  I  ob- 
served my  old  friend  to  be  very  uxorious,  and  exceed- 
ingly fond  of  his  children.  This  was  so  opposite  to  the 
maxims  he  used  to  preach  up  before  he  was  married, 
that  I  could  not  forbear  rubbing  up  the  memory  of 
them.  But  he  gave  a  very  good-natured  turn  to  his 
change  of  sentiments,  by  alleging  that  whoever  brings 
a  poor  gentlewoman  into  so  solitary  a  place,  from  all 
her  friends  and  acquaintance,  would  be  ungrateful  not 
to  use  her  and  all  that  belongs  to  her  with  all  possible 
tenderness. 

28th.   We  all  kept  snug  in  our  several  apartments 


38  WILLIAM    BYRD. 

till  nine,  except  Miss  Theky,  who  was  the  housewife 
of  the  family.  At  that  hour  we  met  over  a  pot  of 
coffee,  which  was  not  quite  strong  enough  to  give  us 
the  palsy.  After  breakfast  the  colonel  and  I  left  the 
ladies  to  their  domestic  affairs,  and  took  a  turn  in  the 
garden,  which  has  nothing  beautiful  but  three  terrace 
walks  that  fall  in  slopes  one  below  another.  I  let 
him  understand,  that  besides  the  pleasure  of  paying 
him  a  visit,  I  came  to  be  instructed  by  so  great  a 
master  in  the  mystery  of  making  of  iron,  wherein  he 
had  led  the  way,  and  was  the  Tubal  Cain  of  Virginia. 
He  corrected  me  a  little  there,  by  assuring  me  he  was 
not  only  the  first  in  this  country,  but  the  first  in  North 
America,  who  had  erected  a  regular  furnace.  That 
they  ran  altogether  upon  bloomeries  in  New  England 
and  Pennsylvania,  till  his  example  had  made  them  at- 
tempt greater  works.  But  in  this  last  colony,  they 
have  so  few  ships  to  carry  their  iron  to  Great  Britain, 
that  they  must  be  content  to  make  it  only  for  their 
own  use,  and  must  be  obliged  to  manufacture  it  when 
they  have  done.  That  he  hoped  he  had  done  the 
country  very  great  service  by  setting  so  good  an  exam- 
ple. .  .  .  Oar  conversation  on  this  subject  continued 
till  dinner,  which  was  both  elegant  and  plentiful. 
The  afternoon  was  devoted  to  the  ladies,  who  showed 
me  one  of  their  most  beautiful  walks.  They  con- 
ducted me  through  a  shady  lane  to  the  landing,  and 
by  the  way  made  me  drink  some  very  fine  water  that 
issued  from  a  marble  fountain,  and  ran  incessantly. 
Just  behind  it  was  a  covered  bench,  where  Miss 
Theky  often  sat  and  bewailed  her  virginity.  Then 
we  proceeded  to  the  river,  which  is  the  south  branch 
of  Rappahannock,  about  fifty  yards  wide,  and  so  rapid 


A    PIONEER   MINER'S    MANSION.         39 

that  the  ferry  boat  is  drawn  over  by  a  chain,  and 
therefore  called  the  Rapidan.  At  night  we  drank 
prosperity  to  all  the  colonel's  projects  in  a  bowl  of 
rack  punch,  and  then  retired  to  our  devotions. 

29th.  Having  employed  about  two  hours  in  retire- 
ment, I  sallied  out  at  the  first  summons  to  breakfast, 
where  our  conversation  with  the  ladies,  like  whip  syl- 
labub, was  very  pretty,  but  had  nothing  in  it.  This, 
it  seems,  was  Miss  Theky's  birthday,  upon  which  I 
made  her  my  compliments,  and  wished  she  might  live 
twice  as  long  a  married  woman  as  she  had  lived  a 
maid.  I  did  not  presume  to  pry  into  the  secret  of 
her  age,  nor  was  she  forward  to  disclose  it,  for  this 
humble  reason,  lest  I  should  think  her  wisdom  fell 
short  of  her  years.  .  .  .  We  had  a  Michaelmas  goose 
for  dinner,  of  Miss  Theky's  own  raising,  who  was  now 
good-natured  enough  to  forget  the  jeopardy  of  her  dog. 
In  the  afternoon  we  walked  in  a  meadow  by  the  river 
side,  which  winds  in  the  form  of  a  horseshoe  about 
Germanna,  making  it  a  peninsula,  containing  about 
four  hundred  acres.  Rappahannock  forks  about  four- 
teen miles  below  this  place,  the  northern  branch  being 
the  larger,  and  consequently  must  be  the  river  that 
bounds  my  Lord  Fairfax's  grant  of  the  northern  neck. 

30th.  The  sun  rose  clear  this  morning,  and  so  did 
I,  and  finished  all  my  little  affairs  by  breakfast.  It  was 
then  resolved  to  wait  on  the  ladies  on  horseback,  since 
the  bright  sun,  the  fine  air,  and  the  wholesome  exer- 
cise, all  invited  us  to  it.  We  forded  the  river  a  little 
above  the  ferry,  and  rode  six  miles  up  the  neck  to 
a  fine  level  piece  of  rich  land,  where  we  found  about 
twenty  plants  of  ginseng,  with  the  scarlet  berries  grow- 
ing on  the  top  of  the  middle  stalk.      The  root  of  this 


40  WILLIAM    BYRD. 

is  of  wonderful  virtue  in  many  cases,  particularly  to 
raise  the  spirits  and  promote  perspiration,  which  makes 
it  a  specific  in  colds  and  coughs.  The  colonel  com- 
plimented me  with  all  we  found,  in  return  for  my 
telling  him  the  virtues  of  it.  We  were  all  pleased 
to  find  so  much  of  this  king  of  plants  so  near  the 
colonel's  habitation,  and  growing  too  upon  his  own 
land  ;  but  were,  however,  surprised  to  find  it  upon 
level  ground,  after  we  had  been  told  it  grew  only 
upon  the  north  side  of  Stony  Mountains.  I  carried 
home  this  treasure  with  as  much  joy  as  if  every  root 
had  been  a  graft  of  the  Tree  of  Life,  and  washed  and 
dried  it  carefully.  This  airing  made  us  as  hungry  as 
so  many  hawks,  so  that  between  appetite  and  a  very 
good  dinner,  'twas  difficult  to  eat  like  a  philosopher. 
In  the  afternoon  the  ladies  walked  me  about  amongst 
all  their  little  animals,  with  which  they  amuse  them- 
selves, and  furnish  the  table  ;  the  worst  of  it  is,  they  are 
so  tender-hearted  they  shed  a  silent  tear  every  time  any 
of  them  are  killed.  At  night  the  colonel  and  I  quitted 
the  threadbare  subject  of  iron,  and  changed  the  scene 
to  politics.  He  told  me  the  ministry  had  receded 
from  their  demand  upon  New  England,  to  raise  a 
standing  salary  for  all  succeeding  governors,  for  fear 
some  curious  members  of  the  House  of  Commons 
should  inquire  how  the  money  was  disposed  of  that 
nad  been  raised  in  the  other  American  colonies  for  the 
support  of  their  governors.  .  .  .  Our  conversation  was 
interrupted  by  a  summons  to  supper,  for  the  ladies,  to 
show  their  power,  had  by  this  time  brought  us  tamely 
to  go  to  bed  with  our  bellies  full,  though  we  both  at  first 
declared  positively  against  it.  So  very  pliable  a  thing 
is  frail  man,  when  women  have  the  bending  of  him. 


A   PIONEER    MINER'S    MANSION.        41 

Oct.  1,  1732.  Our  ladies  overslept  themselves 
this  morning,  so  that  we  did  not  break  our  fast  till 
ten.  We  drank  tea  made  of  the  leaves  of  ginseng, 
which  has  the  virtues  of  the  root  in  a  weaker  degree, 
and  is  not  disagreeable.  So  soon  as  we  could  force 
our  inclinations  to  quit  the  ladies,  we  took  a  turn  on 
the  terrace  walk,  and  discoursed  upon  quite  a  new 
subject.  The  colonel  explained  to  me  the  difference 
between  the  galleons  and  the  flota,  which  very  few 
people  know.  The  galleons,  it  seems,  are  the  ships 
which  bring  the  treasure  and  other  rich  merchandise 
to  Cartagena  from  Portobello,  to  which  place  it  is 
brought  overland  from  Panama  and  Peru.  And  the 
flota  is  the  squadron  that  brings  the  treasure,  etc., 
from  Mexico  and  New  Spain,  which  make  up  at  La 
Vera  Cruz.  Both  these  squadrons  rendezvous  at  the 
Havanna,  from  hence  they  shoot  the  Gulf  of  Florida, 
in  their  return  to  Old  Spain.  That  this  important 
port  of  the  Havanna  is  very  poorly  fortified,  and 
worse  garrisoned  and  provided,  for  which  reason  it 
may  be  easily  taken.  Besides,  both  the  galleons  and 
flota,  being  confined  to  sail  through  the  gulf,  might 
be  intercepted  by  our  stationing  a  squadron  of  men- 
of-war  at  the  most  convenient  of  the  Bahama  Islands. 
And  that  those  islands  are  of  vast  consequence  for  that 
purpose.  He  told  me  also  that  the  assogue  ships  are 
they  that  carry  quicksilver  to  Portobello  and  La  Vera 
Cruz  to  refine  the  silver,  and  that,  in  Spanish,  as- 
sogue signifies  quicksilver.  Then  my  friend  unrid- 
dled to  me  the  great  mystery,  why  we  have  endured 
all  the  late  insolences  of  the  Spaniards  so  tamely.  The 
Assiento  contract,  and  the  liberty  of  sending  a  ship 
every  year  to  the  Spanish  West  Indies,  make  it  very 


42  WILLIAM    BYRD. 

necessary  for  the  South  Sea  Company  to  have  effects 
of  great  value  in  that  part  of  the  world.  Now  these 
being  always  in  the  power  of  the  Spaniards,  make  the 
directors  of  that  company  very  fearful  of  a  breach,  and 
consequently  very  generous  in  their  offers  to  the  min- 
istry to  prevent  it.  For  fear  these  worthy  gentlemen 
should  suffer,  the  English  squadron,  under  Admiral 
Hosier,  lay  idle  at  the  Bastimentos,  till  the  ships' 
bottoms  were  eaten  out  by  the  worm,  and  the  officers 
and  men,  to  the  number  of  5,000,  died  like  rotten 
sheep,  without  being  suffered,  by  the  strictest  orders, 
to  strike  one  stroke,  though  they  might  have  taken 
both  the  flota  and  galleons,  and  made  themselves  mas- 
ter of  the  Havanna  into  the  bargain,  if  they  had  not 
been  chained  up  from  doing  it.  All  this  moderation 
our  peaceable  ministry  showed  even  at  a  time  when 
the  Spaniards  were  furiously  attacking  Gibraltar,  and 
taking  all  the  English  ships  they  could,  both  in  Europe 
and  America,  to  the  great  and  everlasting  reproach  of 
the  British  nation.  That  some  of  the  ministry,  being 
tired  out  with  the  clamors  of  the  merchants,  declared 
their  opinion  for  war,  and  while  they  entertained 
those'  sentiments  they  pitched  upon  him,  Colonel 
Spotswood,  to  be  Governor  of  Jamaica,  that  by  his 
skill  and  experience  in  the  art  military,  they  might  be 
the  better  able  to  execute  their  design  of  taking  the  Ha- 
vanna. But  the  courage  of  these  worthy  patriots  soon 
cooled,  and  the  arguments  used  by  the  South  Sea  di- 
rectors persuaded  them  once  again  into  more  pacific 
measures.  When  the  scheme  was  dropped,  his  gov- 
ernment of  Jamaica  was  dropped  at  the  same  time, 
and  then  General  Hunter  was  judged  fit  enough  to 
rule  that  island  in  time  of  peace.       After  this  the 


A    PIONEER    MINER'S    MANSION.         43 

colonel  endeavored  to  convince  me  that  he  came 
fairly  by  his  place  of  postmaster-general,  notwith- 
standing the  report  of  some  evil-disposed  persons  to 
the  contrary.  The  case  was  this.  Mr.  Hamilton, 
of  New  Jersey,  who  had  formerly  had  that  post, 
wrote  to  Colonel  Spotsvvood,  in  England,  to  favor 
him  with  his  interest  to  get  it  restored  to  him.  But 
the  colonel  considering  wisely  that  charity  began  at 
home,  instead  of  getting  the  place  for  Hamilton,  se- 
cured it  for  a  better  friend  :  though,  as  he  tells  the 
story,  that  gentleman  was  absolutely  refused,  before 
he  spoke  the  least  good  word  for  himself. 


THE   NEW    ENGLAND 
PRIMER. 

Although  the  New  England  Primer  has  been 
called  the  Little  Bible  of  New  England,  and  was,  next 
to  the  Scriptures,  the  book  most  read  and  studied 
there  for  more  than  a  century,  yet  so  ironical  is  the 
fate  of  books  that  it  is  not  exactly  known  when  it 
first  appeared.  Furthermore,  of  some  two  million 
copies  that  may  well  have  been  printed  and  sold 
during  the  eighteenth  century,  less  than  fifty  copies 
are  known  to  exist  ;  these,  significantly  enough, 
represent  no  less  than  forty  editions.  The  Primer 
was  first  printed  by  Benjamin  Harris,  and  was 
adapted  from  that  compiler's  Protectant  Tutor,  a 
book  issued  in  England  before  he  took  refuge  in 
America.  It  must  have  been  issued  between  1687 
and  1690,  and  have  achieved  immediate  success.  A 
second  edition  was  called  for  in  1 69 1 .  By  the  be- 
ginning of  the  next  century  we  have  evidence,  from 
an  advertisement,  that  John  Cotton's  Shorter  Cate- 
chism, The  Milk  for  Babes,  was  added  to  it,  but  the 
first  edition  of  the  Primer  known  to  collectors,  that 
of  1727,  does  not  contain  it.  Indeed,  there  are  such 
constant  changes,  greater  and  smaller,  in  the  make-up  of 
the  book,  that  its  bibliography  is  exceedingly  difficult. 
At  first  somewhat  secular,  it  reached  its  stage  of  most 
unrelenting  piety  between    1740  and    1760,  as  may 

44 


THE    NEW   ENGLAND    PRIMER.         45 

be  seen  by  a  comparison  between  the  rhymed  alpha- 
bets in  our  extracts.  Politics,  too,  influence  the 
changes,  as  may  be  observed  under  the  letter  K.  The 
Exhortation  unto  his  Children  of  John  Rogers  appears 
to  have  been  written  in  1555  by  Robert  Smith,  a 
martyr  of  that  year.  Some  printer  attributed  the 
authorship  to  Matthew  Rogers,  probably  to  secure  a 
better  sale,  Matthew  (for  John)  being  a  name  he  had 
assumed  as  translator  for  Tyndale.  The  introductory 
statement  regarding  him  does  not  accord  with  facts. 
John  Cotton's  Milk  for  Babes  was  probably  written 
in  1 64 1  and  printed  before  1645.  It  was  already 
popular  before  the  earliest  issue  of  the  Primer.  The 
Primer  was  gradually  displaced  by  Webster's  Blue 
Back  Speller  and  Third  Part  Reader,  but  it  continued 
to  find  sale  in  great  numbers  during  the  first  forty 
years  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Our  citations  from 
the  early  editions  are  taken  by  permission  from  Paul 
Leicester  Ford's  admirable  monograph,  The  New 
England  Primer.  The  Spiritual  Milk  and  the  Dia- 
logue between  Christ,  Youth,  and  the  Devil  are 
from  the  edition  of  1762.  The  poem  itself,  how- 
ever, is  by  the  original  compiler  '*  the  neat  and 
poetical  Ben  Harris."  A  facsimile  of  a  post- Revo- 
lutionary edition  of  the  Primer  was  issued  by  Ginn 
and  Company  in  1901.  Curious  information  re- 
garding the  book  may  be  found  in  No.  2  of  Volume 
8  of  Columbia  University  Contributions  to  Philosophy, 
Psychology,  and  Education,  an  Essay  by  Dr.  Reeder 
on  the  Historical  Development  of  School  Readers  and 
Method  in  Teaching  Reading  (1900). 


THE 


NEW    ENGLAND 
PRIMER 


ENLARGED. 


For  the  more  easy  attaining 
the  true  Reading  of  English 

To  which  is  added 

The  Assembly  of  Divines 

Catechism 


Boston:  Printed  by  S.  Kneeland  &  T.  Green,  Sold  by  the 
Booksellers.      1 727. 


THE   NEW   ENGLAND    PRIMER. 


47 


1727. 

In  Adam's  Fall 
We  sinned  all. 


1762. 

In  Adam's  Fall 
We  sinned  all. 


Thy  Life  to  mend 
This  Book  attend. 


Heaven  to  find, 
The  Bible  mind. 


The  Cat  doth  play; 
And  after  slay. 


Christ  crucy'd 
For  sinners  dy'd. 


A  Dog  will  bite, 
The  Thief  at  Night. 


The  Deluged  drown' d 
The  Earth  around. 


An  .Eagle's  flight, 
Is  out  of  sight. 


Elijah  hid 

By  ravens  fed. 


The  idle  Fool, 

Is  whipt  at  School. 


The  judgement  made 
Felix  afraid. 


As  runs  the  Glass 
Man's  Life  doth  pass. 


As  runs  the  Glass, 
Our  Life  doth  pass. 


My  Book  and  Heart 
Shall  never  part. 


My  Book  and  Heart 
Must  never  part. 


Job  feels  the  rod 
Yet  blesses  God. 


Job  feels  the  Rod 
Yet  blesses  God. 


Our  King  the  good 
No  man  of  blood. 


Proud  Korah's  troop 
Was  swallowed  up. 


48 


THE    NEW    ENGLAND    PRIMER. 


1727. 

The  Lion  bold, 

The  Lamb  doth  hold. 


The  Moon  gives  Light 
In  time  of  night. 


Nightingales  sing, 
In  time  of  Spring. 

The  Royal  Oak, 

it  was  the  Tree, 

That  sav'd  his 

Royal  Majesty. 

Peter  denies 

His  Lord  and  cries. 


1762. 

Lot  fled  to  Zoar. 
Saw  fiery  shower, 
On  Sodom  pour. 

Moses  was  he 
Who  Israel's  Host 
Led  thro'  the  Sea. 

Noah  did  view 

The  old  world  &  new. 

Young  Obadius, 
David,  Josias, 
All  were  Pious. 


Peter  deny'd 

His  Lord  and  cry'd. 


Queen  Esther  comes 
In  Royal  state 
To  save  the  Jews 
From  dismal  fate. 


Queen  Esther  sues, 
And  saves  the  Jews. 


Rachel  doth  mourn 
For  her  first  born. 


Young  pious  Ruth 
Left  all  for  Truth. 


Samuel  anoints 
Whom  God  appoints. 

Time  cuts  down  all, 
Both  great  and  small. 


Young  Sam'l  dear 
The  Lord  did  fear. 

Young  Timothy 
Learnt  Sin  to  fly. 


THE    NEW    ENGLAND    PRIMER. 


49 


1727. 

Uriah's  beauteous  Wife, 
Made  David  seek  his  life. 


1762. 

Vashti  for  Pride, 
Was  set  aside. 


Whales  in  the  Sea 
God's  Voice  obey. 

Xerxes  the  great  did  die 
And  so  must  you  &  I. 

Youth  forward  slips 
Death  soonest  nips. 

Zacheus  he 

Did  climb  the  Tree 

His  Lord  to  see. 


Whales  in  the  Sea, 
God's  Voice  obey. 

Xerxes  did  die, 
And  so  must  I. 

While  Youth  do  chear 
Death  may  be  near. 

Zaccheus  he 

Did  climb  the  Tree, 

Our  Lord  to  see. 


Now  the  Child  being  entred  in  his  Letters  and 
Spelling,  let  him  learn  these  and  such  like  Sentences 
by  Heart,  whereby  he  will  be  both  instructed  in  his 
Duty,  and  encouraged  in  his  Learning. 

The  Dutiful  Child's   Promises. 

I  will  fear  GOD,  and  honour  the  KING. 
I  will  honour  my  Father  &  Mother. 
I  will  obey  my  Superiours. 
I  will  submit  to  my  Elders 
I  will  Love  my  Friends 
I  will  hate  no  Man 

I  will  forgive  my  Enemies,  and  pray  to  God  for 
them. 


50        THE   NEW   ENGLAND    PRIMER. 

I  will  as  much  as  in  me  lies  keep  all  God's  Holy 
Commandments 

I  will  learn  my  Catechism 
I  will  keep  the  Lord's  Day  Holy. 
I  will  reverence  God's  sanctuary. 
For  our  GOD  is  a  consuming  Fire. 


Choice  Sentences. 


i  .    Praying  will  make  thee  leave  sinning,  or  sin. 
ning  will  make  thee  leave  praying. 

2.  Our  Weakness  and    Inabilities  break  not  the 
bond  of  our  Duties. 

3.  What  we  are  afraid  to  speak  before  Men,  we 
should  be  afraid  to  think  before  God. 


Verses. 

I  in  the  Burying  Place  may  see 

Graves  Snorter  there  than  I  ; 
From  Death's  Arrest  no  Age  is  free, 

Young  Children  too  may  die  ; 
My  God,  may  such  an  awful  Sight, 

Awakening  be  to  me  ! 
Oh  !   that  by  early  Grace  I  might 

For  Death  prepared  be. 


Good  Children  must 

Fear  God  all  Day  Love  Christ  alway 

Parents  obey  In  Secret  Pray 

No  False  thing  Say  Mind  little  Play 

By  no  Sin  Stray  Make  no  delay 

In  doing  Good 


THE    NEW   ENGLAND    PRIMER.         51 

Awake,  arise,  behold  thou  hast 
Thy  Life  a  Leaf,  thy  Breath  a  Blast  ; 
At  Night  lye  down  prepar'd  to  have 
Thy  sleep,  thy  death,  thy  bed,  thy  grave. 

Learn  These  Four  Lines  by  Heart. 

Have  communion  with  few. 
Be  intimate  with  ONE. 
Deal  justly  with  all. 
Speak  Evil  of  none. 


Mr.  John  Rogers,  Minister  of  the  Gospel  in  London, 
was  the  first  Martyr  in  Queen  Mary' s  Reign,  and 
was  burnt  at  Smithfeld,  February  the  Fourteenth, 
1554.  His  Wife,  with  nine  small  Children  &  one 
at  her  Breast,  following  Him  to  the  Stake,  with  which 
sorrowful  Sight  he  was  not  in  the  least  daunted,  but 
with  wonderful  Patience  died  courageously  for  the 
Gospel  of  JESUS  CHRIST. 

Some  few  Days  before  his  Death  he  writ  the  follow- 
ing exhortation  to  his  Children. 

Give  Ear  my  Children  to  my  Words 

whom  God  hath  dearly  bought, 
Lay  up  his  Laws  within  your  Heart, 

and  print  them  in  your  thought. 
I  leave  you  here  a  little  book, 

for  you  to  look  upon. 
That  you  may  see  your  father's  face, 

when  he  is  dead  and  gone. 


52         THE    NEW    ENGLAND    PRIMER. 

Who  for  the  hope  of  heavenly  things 

while  he  did  here  remain, 
Gave  over  all  his  golden  years 

to  prison  and  to  pain. 
Where  I  among  my  iron  bands 

enclosed  in  the  dark, 
Not  many  days  before  my  death, 

I  did  compose  this  work. 
And  for  example  to  your  youth, 

to  whom  I  wish  all  good, 
I  send  you  here  GOD's  perfect  truth, 

and  seal  it  with  my  blood. 
To  you  my  heirs  of  earthly  things, 

which  I  do  leave  behind, 
That  you  may  read  and  understand, 

and  keep  it  in  your  mind. 
That  as  you  have  been  heirs  of  that 

which  once  shall  wear  away, 
You  also  may  possess  that  part 

which  never  shall  decay. 
Keep  always  God  before  your  eyes, 

with  all  your  whole  intent, 
Commit  no  sin  in  any  wise, 

keep  his  commandements. 
Abhor  that  arrant  whore  of  Rome 

And  all  her  blasphemies 
And  drink  not  of  her  cursed  cup 

Obey  not  her  decrees. 

Give  honour  to  your  mother  dear, 

remember  well  her  pain, 
And  recompence  her  in  her  age, 

with  the  like  love  again. 


THE    NEW    ENGLAND    PRIMER.         53 

Be  always  ready  for  her  help 

and  let  her  not  decay, 
Remember  well  your  father  all, 

That  should  have  been  your  stay. 
Give  of  your  portion  to  the  poor, 

as  riches  do  arise, 
And  from  the  needy  naked  soul 

turn  not  away  your  eyes. 
For  he  that  doth  not  hear  the  cry 

of  those  that  stand  in  need, 
Shall  cry  himself  and  not  be  heard, 

when  he  does  hope  to  speed. 
If  God  hath  given  you  increase, 

and  blessed  well  your  store. 
Remember  you  are  put  in  trust, 

and  should  relieve  the  poor. 
Beware  of  foul  and  filthy  lusts, 

let  such  things  have  no  place, 
Keep  clean  your  vessels  in  the  LORD, 

that  he  may  you  embrace. 
Ye  are  the  temples  of  the  LORD,       5 

for  you  are  dearly  bought, 
And  they  that  do  defile  the  same, 

shall  surely  come  to  nought. 
Be  never  proud  by  any  means. 

build  not  thy  house  too  high, 
But  always  have  before  your  eyes, 

that  you  were  born  to  die. 
Defraud  not  him  that  hired  is, 

your  labour  to  sustain, 
And  pay  him  still  without  delay, 

his  wages  for  his  pain. 


54        THE   NEW    ENGLAND    PRIMER. 

And  as  you  would  another  man 

against  you  should  proceed, 
Do  you  the  same  to  them  again, 

if  they  do  stand  in  need. 
Impart  your  portion  to  the  poor, 

in  money  and  in  meat, 
And  send  the  feeble  fainting  soul, 

of  that  which  you  do  eat. 
Ask  council  always  of  the  wise, 

give  ear  unto  the  end, 
And  ne'er  refuse  the  sweet  rebuke 

of  him  that  is  thy  friend. 
Be  always  thankful  to  the  LORD, 

with  prayer  and  with  praise, 
Begging  of  him  to  bless  your  work, 

and  to  direct  your  ways. 
Seek  first  I  say  the  living  GOD 

and  always  him  adore, 
And  then  be  sure  that  he  will  bless 

your  basket  and  your  store. 
Arid  I  beseech  Almighty  GOD 

replenish  you  with  grace, 
That  I  may  meet  you  in  the  Heav'ns, 

and  see  you  face  to  face. 
And  though  the  fire  my  body  burns, 

contrary  to  my  kind, 
That  I  cannot  enjoy  your  love, 

according  to  my  mind. 
Yet  I  do  hope  that  when  the  Heav'ns 

shall  vanish  like  a  scrowl, 
I  shall  see  you  in  perfect  shape, 

in  body  and  in  soul. 


THE    NEW    ENGLAND    PRIMER.         55 

And  that  I  may  enjoy  your  love 

and  you  enjoy  the  land, 
I  do  beseech  the  living  LORD, 

to  hold  you  in  his  hand. 
Though  here  my  body  be  adjudg'd 

in  flaming  fire  to  fry, 
My  soul  I  trust  will  straight  ascend, 

to  live  with  GOD  on  high. 
What  though  this  carcase  smart  a  while, 

what  though  this  life  decay, 
My  soul  I  trust  will  be  with  GOD, 

and  live  with  him  for  aye. 
I  know  I  am  a  sinner  born, 

from  the  original, 
And  that  I  do  deserve  tf  die 

by  my  fore  father's  fa  ! 
But  by  our  Saviour,  precious  blood, 

which  on  the  cross  was  spilt, 
Who  freely  offer' d  up  his  life, 

to  save  our  souls  from  guilt. 
I  hope  redemption  I  shall  have, 

and  all  that  in  him  trust. 
When  I  shall  see  him  face  to  face, 

and  live  among  the  just. 
Why  then  should  I  fear  Death's  grim  look, 

since  CHRIST  for  me  did  die  ? 
For  King  and  Cesar,  rich  and  poor, 

the  force  of  death  must  try. 
When  I  am  chained  to  the  stake, 

and  faggots  gird  me  round, 
•  Then  pray  the  LORD  my  soul  in  Heav'n 

may  be  with  glory  crown' d. 


56         THE    NEW    ENGLAND    PRIMER. 

Come  welcome  death,  the  end  of  fears, 

I  am  prepar'd  to  die, 
Those  earthly  flames  will  send  my  soul 

up  to  the  LORD  on  high. 
Farewell  my  children,  to  the  world, 

where  you  must  yet  remain, 
The  LORD  of  hosts  be  your  defence, 

till  we  do  meet  again. 
Farewell  my  true  and  loving  wife, 

my  children  and  my  friends, 
I  hope  in  Heaven  to  see  you  all, 

when  all  things  have  their  ends. 
If  you  go  on  to  serve  the  LORD, 

as  you  have  now  begun, 
You  shall  walk  safely  all  your  days, 

until  your  life  be  done. 
GOD  grant  you  so  to  end  your  days, 

as  he  shall  think  it  best, 
That  I  may  meet  you  in  the  Heav'ns 

where  I  do  hope  to  rest. 


The  Infants  Grace   Before  and  After   Meat. 

Bless  me,  O  Lord,  and  let  my  food  strengthen  me 
to  serve  thee,  for  Jesus  Christ's  sake.      Amen. 

I  desire  to  thank  God  who  gives  me  food  to  eat 
every  day  of  my  life.      Amen. 

A   Child's   Prayer. 

I  pray  God  to  bless  my  Father  and  Mother,  Brother 
and  Sisters,  and  all  my  dear  Friends.      Amen. 


THE    NEW   ENGLAND    PRIMER.         57 


(In  various  editions  after  1690.) 

SPIRITUAL    MILK    FOR    AMERICAN 
BABES, 

Drawn  out  of  the  Breast  of  both  Testaments, 
for  their   Souls  Nourishment. 

by  john  cotton. 

Quest.    What  hath  God  done  for  you  ? 

Ans.  God  hath  made  me,  he  keepeth  me,  and  he 
can  save  me. 

Q.     What  is  GOD? 

A.    God  is  a  Spirit  of  himself  and  for  himself. 

Q.     How  many  Gods  be  there  ? 

A.  There  be  but  One  GOD  in  three  Persons,  the 
Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost.   . 

Q.    How  did  God  make  you  ? 

A.    In  my  first  Parents  holy  and  righteous. 

Q.    Are  you  then  born  Holy  and  Righteous  f 

A.    No,  my  first  Parents  sinned,  and  I  in  them. 

Q.    Are  you  then  born  a  Sinner  ? 

A.    I  was  conceived  in  Sin  &  born  in  Iniquity. 

Q.     What  is  your  Birth  Sin  ? 

A.  Adam's  Sin  imputed  to  me,  and  a  corrupt 
Nature  dwelling  in  me. 

Q.     What  is  your  corrupt  Nature  ? 

A.  My  corrupt  Nature  is  empty  of  Grace,  bent 
unto  Sin,  only  unto  Sin  and  that  continually. 

Q.     What  is  Sin  ? 

A.    Sin  is  the  Transgression  of  the  Law. 


58         THE    NEW    ENGLAND    PRIMER. 

Q.    How  many  Commandments  of  the  Law  be  there  ? 

A.    Ten. 

Q.     What  is  the  first  Commandment? 

A.    Thou  shalt  have  no  other  Gods  before  me. 

Q.     What  is  the  meaning  of  this  Commandment  ? 

A.  That  we  should  worship  the  only  true  God, 
and  no  other  beside  him. 

Q.     What  is  the  second  Commandment  ? 

A.  Thou  shalt  not  make  unto  thyself  any  graven 
Image,  &c. 

Q.     What  is  the  meaning  of  this  Commandment  ? 

A.  That  we  should  worship  the  only  true  GOD 
with  true  Worship,  such  as  he  hath  ordained,  not  such 
as  man  hath  invented. 

Q.     What  is  the  third   Commandment  ? 

A.  Thou  shalt  not  take  the  Name  of  the  Lord  thy 
God  in  vain,  &c. 

Q.     What  is  meant  by  the  Name  of  GOD  ? 

A.  God  himself,  and  the  good  Things  of  God 
whereby  he  is  known  as  a  Man  by  his  Name,  and  his 
Attributes,  Worship,  Word,  and  Works. 

Q.     What  is  it  not  to  take  his  Name  in  vain  ? 

A.  To  make  use  of  God,  and  the  good  Things  of 
God,  to  his  Glory,  and  our  own  Good,  not  vainly, 
not  irreverently,  not  unprofitably. 

Q.     What  is  the  fourth  Commandment  ? 

A.  Remember  that  thou  keep  holy  the  Sabbath 
day. 

Q.     What  is  the  meaning  of  this  Commandment  ? 

A.  That  we  should  rest  from  Labour,  and  much 
more  from  play  on  the  Lord's  Day,  that  we  may  draw 
nigh  to  God  in  holy  Duties. 

Q.     What  is  the  fifth   Commandment  ? 


THE    NEW    ENGLAND    PRIMER.         59 

A.    Honour  thy  Father  and  thy  Mother,  &c. 

Q.    Who  are  here  meant  by  Father  and  Mother  ?■ 

A.  All  our  Superiors,  whether  in  Family,  School, 
Church,  or  Common  Wealth. 

Q.     What  is  the  Honour  due  to  them  ? 

A.  Reverence,  Obedience,  and  (when  I  am  able) 
Recompence. 

Q.     What  is  the  sixth  Commandment  ? 

A.    Thou  shalt  do  no  Murder. 

Q.     What  is  the  meaning  of  this  Commandment  ? 

A.  That  we  should  not  shorten  the  Life  or  Health 
of  ourselves  or  others,  but  preserve  both. 

Q.     What  is  the  seventh  Commandment  ? 

A.    Thou  shalt  not  commit  Adultery. 

Q.     What  is  the  Sin  here  forbidden  ? 

A.    To  defile  ourselves  or  others  with  unclean  Lusts. 

Q.     What  is  the  Duty  here  Commanded  ? 

A.  Chastity  to  possess  our  Vessels  in  Holiness  and 
Honour. 

Q.     What  is  the  eighth  Commandment  ? 

A.    Thou  shalt  not  Steal. 

Q.     What  is  the  stealth  here  forbidden  ? 

A.  To  take  away  another  man's  goods  without  his 
Leave,  or  to  spend  our  own  without  Benefit  to  our- 
selves or  others. 

Q.     What  is  the  Duty  here  Commanded? 

A.  To  get  our  Goods  honestly,  to  keep  them 
safely,   and  spend   them   thriftily. 

Q.     What  is  the  ninth  Commandment  ? 

A.    Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  Witness,  &c. 

Q.     What  is  the  Sin  here  forbidden? 

A.  To  lie  falsely,  to  think  or  speak  untruly  of  our- 
selves or  others. 


60         THE    NEW    ENGLAND    PRIMER. 

Q.     What  is  the  Duty  here  required? 

A.    Truth  and  Faithfulness. 

Q.     What  is  the  Tenth  Commandment  ? 

A.    Thou  shalt  not  covet,  &c. 

Q.     What  is  the  coveting  here  forbidden  ? 

A.  Lust  after  the  Things  of  other  Men,  and  Want 
of  Contentment  with  our  own. 

Q.     Whether  have  you  kept  these  Commandments  ? 

A.    No,  I  and  all  Men  are  Sinners. 

Q.     What  is  the  wages  of  Sin  ? 

A.    Death  and  Damnation. 

Q.    How  then  do  you  look  to  be  saved? 

A.    Only  by  Jesus  Christ. 

Q.     Who  is  Jesus  Christ  ? 

A.  The  eternal  Son  of  God  who  for  our  sakes  be- 
came Man,  that  he  might  redeem  and  save  usr 

Q.    How  doth  Christ  redeem  and  save  us  ? 

A.  By  his  righteous  Life  and  bitter  Death,  and 
glorious   Resurrection   to   Life  again. 

Q.  How  do  we  come  to  have  a  Part  &  Fellow- 
ship with  Christ  in  his  Death  &  Resurrection  ? 

A.  By  the  Power  of  his  Word  and  Spirit,  which 
brings  us  to  him,  and  keeps  us  in  him. 

Q.     What  is  the  Word? 

A.  The  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Prophets  and  Apos- 
tles, the  old  and  new  Testament,  the  Law  and  Gospel. 

Q.  How  doth  the  Ministry  of  the  Law  bring  you 
towards  Christ? 

A.  By  bringing  me  to  know  my  Sin,  and  the 
Wrath   of  God  against  me  for  it. 

Q.     What  are  you  hereby  the  nearer  to  Christ  ? 

A.  So  I  come  to  feel  my  cursed  Estate  and  Need 
of  a  Saviour. 


THE    NEW    ENGLAND    PRIMER.         6 1 

Q.  How  doth  the  Ministry  of  the  Gospel  help  you 
in  this  cursed  Estate  ? 

A.  By  humbling  me  yet  more,  and  the  raising  me 
out  of  this  Estate. 

•  Q.    How  doth  the  Ministry  of  the   Gospel  humble 
you  ? 

A.  By  revealing  the  Grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  in 
dying  to  save  Sinners,  and  yet  convincing  me  of  my 
Sin  in  not  believing  on  him,  and  of  my  utter  Insuffi- 
ciency to  come  to  him,  and  so  I  feel  myself  utterly  lost. 

Q.  How  doth  the  Ministry  of  the  Gospel  raise  you 
up  out  of  this  lost  Estate  to  come  to  Christ  ? 

A.  By  teaching  me  the  Value  &  Virtue  of  the 
Death  of  Christ,  and  the  Riches  of  his  Grace  to  lost 
Sinners,  by  revealing  the  Promise  of  Grace  to  such, 
and  by  ministring  the  Spirit  of  Grace  to  apply  to  Christ, 
and  his  Promise  of  Grace  unto  myself,  and  to  keep 
me  in  him. 

Q.  How  doth  the  Spirit  of  Grace  apply  Christ,  his 
Promise  of  Grace  unto  you,  &  keep  you  in  him  ? 

A.  By  begetting  in  me  Faith  to  receive  him, 
Prayer  to  call  upon  him,  Repentance  to  mourn  after 
him  and  new  Obedience  to  serve  him. 

Q.    What  is  Faith  ? 

A.  Faith  is  a  Grace  of  the  Spirit,  whereby  I  deny 
myself,  and  believe  on  Christ  for  Righteousness  and 
Salvation. 

Q.     What  is  Prayer  ? 

A.  It  is  a  calling  upon  God  in  the  Name  of  Christ, 
by  the  Help  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  according  to  the  Will 
of  God. 

Q.     What  is  Repentance  ? 

A.     Repentance  is  a  Grace  of  the  Spirit,  whereby 


62         THE    NEW    ENGLAND    PRIMER. 

I  loath  my  Sins,  and  myself  for  them,  and  confess 
them  before  the  Lord,  and  mourn  after  Christ  for 
the  Pardon  of  them,  and  for  Grace  to  serve  him  in 
Newness  of  Life. 

Q.    What  is  Newness  of  Life  or  new  Obedience  ?  - 

A.  Newness  of  Life  is  a  Grace  of  the  Spirit, 
whereby  I  forsake  my  former  Lusts  &  vain  com- 
pany, and  walk  before  the  Lord  in  the  Light  of  his 
Word,  and  in  the  Communion  of  Saints. 

Q.     What  is  the  Communion  of  Saints  ? 

A.  It  is  the  Fellowship  of  the  Church  in  the  Bless- 
ings of  the  Covenant  of  Grace,  and  the  Seals  thereof. 

Q.     What  is  the  Church  ? 

A.  It  is  a  Congregation  of  Saints  joined  together 
in  the  Bond  of  the  Covenant  to  worship  the  Lord, 
and  to  edify  one  another  in  all  his  holy  Ordinances. 

Q.  What  is  the  Bond  of  the  Covenant  by  which  the 
Church  is  joined  together  ? 

A.  It  is  the  Profession  of  that  Covenant  which  God 
hath  made  with  his  faithful  People,  to  be  a  God  unto 
them,  and  to  their  Seed. 

Q.  What  doth  the  Lord  bind  his  People  to  in  this 
Covenant  ? 

A.  To  give  up  themselves  and  their  Seed,  first  to 
the  Lord,  to  be  his  People,  and  then  to  the  Elders  & 
Brethren  of  the  Church,  to  set  forward  the  Worship 
of  God  &  their  mutual  Edification. 

Q.  How  do  they  give  up  themselves  and  their  Seed 
to  the  Lord? 

A.  By  receiving  thro'  Faith  the  Lord  &  his  Cove- 
nant to  themselves  and  to  their  Seed,  and  accordingly 
walking  themselves  &  training  up  their  Children  in 
the  Ways  of  the  Covenant. 


THE    NEW    ENGLAND    PRIMER.         63 

Q.  How  do  they  give  up  themselves  and  their  Seed 
to  the  Elders  and  Brethren  ? 

A.  By  Confession  of  their  Sins,  and  Profession  of 
their  Faith,  and  of  their  Subjection  to  the  Gospel  of 
Christ ;  and  so  they  and  their  Seed  are  received  into 
the  Fellowship  of  the  Church  and  the  Seals  thereof. 

Q.  What  are  the  Seals  of  the  Covenant  now  In 
the  Days  of  the  Gospel? 

A.    Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper. 

Q.     What  is  done  for  you  in  Baptism  ? 

A.  In  Baptism,  the  washing  with  Water  is  a  Sign 
and  Seal  of  my  washing  in  the  Blood  and  Spirit  of 
Christ,  and  thereby  of  my  ingrafting  into  Christ,  of 
the  Pardon  and  cleansing  of  my  Sins,  of  my  raising  up 
out  of  Afflictions  &  also  of  my  Resurrection  from  the 
Dead  at  the  last  Day. 

Q.     What  is  done  for  you  in  the  Lord' s  Supper  ? 

A.  In  the  Lord's  Supper  the  receiving  of  the  Bread 
broken  and  the  Wine  poured  out,  is  a  Sign  and  Seal 
of  my  receiving  the  Communion  of  the  Body  of  Christ 
broken  for  me,  and  of  his  Blood  shed  for  me,  and 
thereby  of  my  Grow7th  In  Christ,  and  the  Pardon  and 
Healing  of  my  Sins,  of  the  Fellowship  of  the  Spirit, 
of  my  strengthening  and  quickening  in  Grace,  and  of 
my  sitting  together  with  Christ  on  his  Throne  of  Glory 
at  the  last  Judgment. 

Q.  What  was  the  resurrection  from  the  dead 
which  was  sealed  up  to  you  in  baptism  ? 

A.  When  Christ  shall  come  at  his  last  Judgment, 
all  that  are  in  their  Graves  shall  rise  again,  both  the 
Just  and  the  Unjust. 

Q.  What  is  the  last  Judgment  which  is  sealed  up 
to  you  in  the  Lord's  Slipper? 


6d.         THE    NEW    ENGLAND    PRIMER. 

A.  At  the  last  Day  we  shall  all  appear  before  the 
Judgment  Seat  of  Christ  to  give  an  Account  of  our 
Works,  and  to  receive  our  Rewards  according  to  them. 

Q.     What  is  the  reward  that  shall  then  be  given  ? 

A.  The  Righteous  shall  go  into  Life  eternal  and 
the  Wicked  shall  be  cast  into  everlasting  Fire  with 
the  Devil  and  his  Angels. 


A  DIALOGUE  BETWEEN  CHRIST,  YOUTH, 
AND    THE  DEVIL. 

(In  the  first  edition  of  the  Primer ,  i68y(?),  and  nine  subse« 
quent  ones. ) 

YourH. 

Those  days  which  God  to  me  doth  send, 
In  pleasure  I'm  resolv'd  to  spend  ; 
Like  as  the  birds  in  lovely  spring, 
Sit  chirping  on  the  boughs  and  sing, 
Who  straining  forth  those  warbling  notes, 
Do  make  sweet  music  in  their  throats. 
So  I  resolve  in  this  my  prime, 
In  sports  and  plays  to  spend  my  time. 
Sorrow  and  grief  I'll  put  away, 
Such  things  agree  not  with  my  day, 
From  clouds  my  morning  shall  be  free, 
And  nought  on  Earth  shall  trouble  me. 
I  will  embrace  each  sweet  delight, 
This  Earth  affords  me  day  and  night  ; 
Though  parents  grieve  and  me  correct, 
Yet  I  their  counsel  will  reject. 


THE    NEW    ENGLAND    PRIMER.         65 

Devil. 

The  resolution  which  you  take, 
Sweet  youth,  it  doth  me  merry  make, 
If  thou  my  counsel  wilt  embrace, 
And  shun  the  ways  of  truth  and  grace, 
And  learn  to  lie,  to  curse  and  swear, 
And  be  as  proud  as  any  are  ; 
And  with  thy  brothers  wilt  fall  out, 
And  sisters  with  vile  language  flout. 
Yea,  fight  and  scratch,  and  also  bite, 
Then  in  thee  I  will  take  delight. 
If  thou  wilt  but  be  ruPd  by  me, 
An  artist  thou  shalt  quickly  be, 
In  all  my  ways  which  lovely  are, 
There's  few  with  thee  who  shall  compare, 
Thy  parents  always  disobey 
Don't  mind  at  all  what  they  do  say  ; 
And  also  pout  and  sullen  be, 
And  thou  shalt  be  a  child  for  me. 
When  others  read,  be  thou  at  play, 
Think  not  on  God,  don't  sigh  nor  pray, 
Nor  be  thou  such  a  silly  fool, 
To  mind  thy  book,  or  go  to  school 
But  play  the  truant  ■;  fear  not,  I 
Will  straightway  help  you  to  a  lie, 
Which  will  excuse  you  for  the  same, 
From  being  whip'd,  and  from  all  blame. 
Come,  bow  to  me,  uphold  my  crown, 
And  I'll  thee  raise  to  high  renown. 


66         THE   NEW    ENGLAND    PRIMER. 

Youth. 

These  motions  I  will  cleave  unto, 
And  let  all  other  counsels  go  ; 
My  heart  against  my  parents  now, 
Shall  hardned  be,  and  will  not  bow  ; 
I  won't  submit  at  all  to  them, 
But  all  good  counsel  will  contemn  : 
And  what  I  list,  that  do  will  I, 
And  stubborn  be  continually. 

CHRIST. 

Wilt  thou  O  youth  make  such  a  choice, 
And  thus  obey  the  Devil's  voice  ! 
Curs' d  sinful  ways  wilt  thou  embrace, 
And  hate  the  ways  of  truth  and  grace  ? 
Wilt  thou  to  me  a  rebel  prove  ; 
And  from  thy  parents  quite  remove 
Thy  heart  also  ?  then  shalt  thou  see, 
What  will  e'er  long  become  of  thee. 
Come,  think  on  God,  who  did  thee  make, 
And  at  this  presence  dread  and  quake  ; 
Remember  him  now  in  thy  youth, 
And  let  thy  soul  take  hold  of  truth  ; 
The  Devil  and  his  ways  defy, 
Believe  him  not,  he  doth  but  lie, 
His  ways  seem  sweet,  but  youth  beware, 
He  for  thy  soul  hath  laid  a  snare, 
His  sweet  will  into  sower  turn, 
If  in  those  ways  thou  still  wilt  run, 
He  will  thee  into  pieces  tear, 
Like  lions  which  most  hungry  are. 
Grant  me  thy  heart,  thy  folly  leave, 


THE   NEW   ENGLAND    PRIMER.         67 

And  from  this  Lion  I'll  thee  save  ; 
And  thou  shalt  have  sweet  joy  from  me, 
Which  will  last  to  eternity. 

Youth. 

My  heart  shall  chear  me  in  my  youth  ; 
I'll  have  my  frolicks  in  good  truth  ; 
Whate'er  seems  lovely  in  mine  eye, 
Myself  I  cannot  it  deny. 
In  my  own  ways  I  still  will  walk, 
And  take  delight  among  young  folk, 
Who  spend  their  days  in  joy  and  mirth, 
Nothing  like  that  I'm  sure  on  earth. 
Thy  ways,  O  Christ  !   are  not  for  me, 
They  with  my  age  do  not  agree  ; 
If  I  unto  thy  laws  should  cleave, 
No  more  good  days  then  should  I  have. 

CHRIST. 

Would  thou  live  long  and  good  days  see, 
Refrain  from  all  iniquity  : 
True  good  alone  doth  from  me  flow, 
It  can't  be  had  in  things  below. 
Are  not  my  ways,  O  youth  for  thee, 
Then  thou  shalt  never  happy  be  ; 
Nor  ever  shall  thy  soul  obtain 
True  good  whilst  thou  dost  here  remain. 

Youth. 

To  thee,  O  Christ  !  I'll  not  adhere, 
What  thou  speak' st  of  does  not  appear 
Lovely  to  me  ;  I  cannot  find 


68         THE    NEW    ENGLAND    PRIMER. 

'Tis  good  to  set  or  place  my  mind 
Qg  ways  whence  many  sorrows  spring, 
Jpd**o  the  flesh  such  crosses  bring, 
Uon't  trouble  me,  I  must  fulfil 
My  fleshly  mind  and  have  my  will. 

CHRIST. 

Unto  thyself  then  I'll  thee  leave, 
That  Satan  may  thee  wholly  have  : 
Thy  heart  in  sin  shall  hardned  be, 
And  blinded  in  iniquity. 
And  then  in  wrath  I'll  cut  thee  down, 
Like  to  the  grass  and  flowers  mown  ; 
And  to  thy  wo  thou  shalt  espy, 
Childhood  and  youth  are  vanity. 
For  all  such  things  I'll  make  thee  know, 
To  judgment  thou  shalt  come  also  ; 
In  Hell  at  last  thy  soul  must  burn, 
When  thou  thy  sinful  race  hast  run. 
Consider  this,  think  on  thy  end, 
Lest  God  do  thee  in  pieces  rend. 

Youth. 
Amazed,  Lord  !  I  now  begin, 

0  help  me,  and  I'll  leave  my  sin. 

1  tremble  and  do  greatly  fear, 
To  think  upon  what  I  do  hear. 
Lord  !  I  religious  now  will  be, 
And  I'll  from  Satan  turn  to  thee. 

Devil, 
Nay,  foolish  youth  don't  change  thy  mind, 
Unto  such  thoughts  be  not  inclin'd  ; 


THE   NEW    ENGLAND    PRIMER.         69 

Come,  chear  thy  heart  rouse  up,  be  glad, 
There  is  no  Hell  ;   why  art  thou  sad  ? 
Eat,  drink,  be  merry  with  thy  friends,       ^ 
For  when  thou  diest  that's  thy  last  end. 

Youth. 

Such  thoughts  as  these  I  can't  receive, 
Because  GOD's  word  I  do  believe  ; 
None  shall  in  this  destroy  my  faith, 
Nor  do  I  mind  what  Satan  saith. 

Devil. 

*  That  there's  a  Heaven  I  can't  deny, 
Yes,  and  a  Hell  of  misery. 
That  Heaven  is  a  lovely  place, 
I  can't  deny  ;   'tis  a  clear  case  ; 
And  easy  'tis  for  to  come  there, 
Therefore  take  thou  no  further  care  ; 
All  human  laws  do  thou  observe, 
And  from  old  customs  never  swerve  ; 
Thou  may'st  be  drunk,  and  swear  and  curse, 
And  sinners  like  but  ne'er  the  worse  ; 
At  any  time  thou  may'st  repent, 
'Twill  serve  when  all  thy  days  are  spent. 

CHRIST. 

Take  heed  or  else  thou  art  undone, 
These  thoughts  are  from  the  wicked  one. 
Narrow's  the  way  that  leads  to  life, 
Who  walk  therein  do  meet  with  strife  ; 
Few  shall  be  saved,  young  man  know, 
Most  do  unto  destruction  go. 


70         THE    NEW    ENGLAND    PRIMER. 

If  the  righteous  ones  scarce  saved  be, 
What  will  at  last  become  of  thee  ! 
Oh  !  don't  reject  my  precious  call, 
Lest  suddenly  to  Hell  thou  fall ; 
Unless  thou  soon  converted  be, 
God's  kingdom  thou  shalt  never  see. 

Youth. 

Lord,  I  am  now  at  a  great  stand, 
If  I  should  yield  to  your  command, 
My  comrades  will  me  much  deride, 
And  never  more  will  me  abide. 
Moreover,  this  I  also  know, 
Thou  can' st  at  last  great  mercy  show  ; 
When  I  am  old  and  pleasure's  gone, 
Then  what  thou  say'st  I'll  think  upon. 

CHRIST. 

Nay,  hold  vain  youth,  thy  time  is  short, 
I  have  thy  breath,  I'll  end  thy  sport  : 
Thou  shalt  not  live  till  thou  art  old, 
Since  thou  in  sin  art  grown  so  bold. 
I  in  thy  youth  grim  death  will  send, 
And  all  thy  sports  shall  have  an  end. 

Youth. 

I  am  too  young,  alas  to  die, 
Let  death  some  old  grey  head  espy. 
O  spare  me,  and  I  will  amend, 
And  with  thy  grace  my  soul  befriend, 
Or  else  I  am  undone  alas, 
For  I  am  in  a  woful  case. 


THE    NEW    ENGLAND    PRIMER.  7 1 

CHRIST. 

When  I  did  call,  you  would  not  hear, 
But  didst  to  me  turn  a  deaf  ear  ; 
And  now  in  thy  calamity, 
I  will  not  mind  nor  hear  thy  cry  ; 
Thy  day  is  past,  begone  from  me, 
Thou  who  didst  love  iniquity, 
Above  thy  soul  and  Saviour  dear  ; 
Who  on  the  cross  great  pains  did  bear, 
My  mercy  thou  didst  much  abuse, 
And  all  good  counsel  didst  refuse, 
Justice  will  therefore  vengeance  take, 
And  thee  a  sad  example  make. 

Youth. 

O  spare  me,  Lord,  forbear  thy  hand, 
Don't  cut  me  off  who  trembling  stand, 
Begging  for  mercy  at  thy  door, 
O  let  me  have  but  one  year  more. 

CHRIST. 

If  thou  some  longer  time  should  have, 
Thou  wouldst  again  to  folly  cleave  : 
Therefore  to  thee  I  will  not  give, 
One  day  on  earth  longer  to  live. 

Death. 
Youth,  I  am  come  to  fetch  thy  breath, 
And  carry  thee  to  the  shades  of  death, 
No  pity  on  thee  can  I  show, 
Thou  hast  thy  God  offended  so. 
Thy  soul  and  body  I'll  divide, 


72         THE   NEW   ENGLAND    PRIMER. 

Thy  body  in  the  grave  I'll  hide, 
And  thy  dear  soul  in  hell  must  lie 
With  Devils  to  eternity. 

The  conclusion. 
Thus  end  the  days  of  vvoful  youth, 
Who  won't  obey  nor  mind  the  truth  ; 
Nor  hearken  to  what  preachers  say, 
But  do  their  parents  disobey. 
They  in  their  youth  go  down  to  hell, 
Under  eternal  wrath  to  dwell. 
Many  don't  live  out  half  their  days, 
For  cleaving  unto  sinful  ways. 

(  From  various  later  editions.) 

Alphabet  Verses. 

0790  0797) 

Kings  should  be  good  The  British  King 

Not  men  of  Blood  Lost  States  Thirteen 

(1825)  (1819) 

Queens  and  Kings  'Tis  Youths  Delight 

Are  gaudy  things  To  fly  their  Kite 

The  Infant's  Grace  Before  and  After  Meat. 

Bless  me,  O  Lord,  and  let  my  food  strengthen  me 
to  serve  Thee  for  Jesus  Christ's  Sake.      Amen. 

I  desire  to  thank  God  who  gives  me  food  every 
day  of  my  life.      Amen. 

Verses  For  Little  Children. 

Though  I  am  young,  a  little  one 
If  I  can  speak  and  go  alone, 


THE    NEW    ENGLAND    PRIMER.         73 

Then  I  must  learn  to  know  the  Lord 

And  learn  to  read  his  holy  word. 

'Tis  time  to  seek  to  God  and  pray 

For  what  I  want  for  ev'ry  day  : 

I  have  a  precious  soul  to  save, 

And  I  a  mortal  body  have. 

Tho'  I  am  young,  yet  I  may  die, 

And  hasten  to  eternity  : 

There  is  a  dreadful  fiery  Hell, 

Where  wicked  ones  must  always  dwell ; 

There  is  a  heaven  full  of  joy, 

Where  godly  ones  must  always  stay  ; 

To  one  of  these  my  soul  must  fly, 

As  in  a  moment  when  I  die  : 

When  God  that  made  me  calls  me  home, 

I  must  not  stay,  I  must  be  gone. 

He  gave  me  life,  and  gives  me  breath, 

And  he  can  save  my  soul  from  death, 

By  Jesus  Christ  my  only  Lord, 

According  to  his  holy  word. 

He  clothes  my  back  and  makes  me  warm  ; 

He  saves  my  flesh  and  bones  from  harm  ; 

He  gives  me  bread  and  milk  and  meat, 

And  all  I  have  that's  good  to  eat. 

When  I  am  sick,  he  if  he  please, 

Can  make  me  well,  and  give  me  ease  ; 

He  gives  me  sleep  and  quiet  rest, 

Whereby  my  body  is  refresh' d, 

The  Lord  is  good  and  kind  to  me, 

And  very  thankful  I  must  be  : 

I  must  not  sin  as  others  do, 

Lest  I  lay  down  in  sorrow  too  : 

For  God  is  angry  ev'ry  day, 


74         THE   NEW    ENGLAND    PRIMER. 

With  wicked  ones  that  go  astray, 

All  sinful  words  I  must  refrain  : 

I  must  not  take  God's  name  in  vain. 

I  must  not  work,  I  must  not  play, 

Upon  Christ's  holy  Sabbath-day 

And  if  my  parents  speak  the  word, 

I  must  obey  them  in  the  Lord, 

Nor  steal  nor  lie,  nor  spend  my  days, 

In  idle  talk  and  foolish  plays. 

I  must  obey  my  Lord's  commands, 

Do  something  with  my  little  hands  : 

Remember  my  Creator  now, 

In  youth  while  time  will  it  allow. 

Young  Samuel  that  little  child, 

He  served  the  Lord,  liv'd  undefil'd  ; 

Him  in  his  service  God  employ' d, 

While  Eli's  wicked  children  dy'd, 

When  wicked  children  mocking  said, 

To  an  old  man,  * '  Go  up  bald  Head ;  '  \ 

God  was  displeas'd  with  them,  and  sent 

Two  bears  which  them  in  pieces  rent. 

I  must  not  like  those  children  vile, 

Displease  my  God,  myself  defile, 

Like  young  Abijah,  I  must  see, 

That  good  things  may  be  found  in  me. 

Young  King  Josiah,  that  blest  youth, 

He  sought  the  Lord,  and  lov'd  the  truth  ; 

He  like  a  king  did  act  his  part, 

And  follow' d  God  with  all  his  heart. 

The  little  children  they  did  sing, 

Hosannah's  to  their  heavenly  King. 

That  blessed  child  young  Timothy, 

Did  learn  God's  word  most  needfully, 


THE    NEW    ENGLAND    PRIMER.         75 

It  seem'd  to  be  his  recreation, 
Which  made  him  wise  unto  salvation  : 
By  faith  in  Christ  which  he  had  gain'd 
With  prayers  &  tears  that  faith  unfeign'd. 
These  good  examples  were  for  me, 
Like  these  good  children  I  must  be. 
Give  me  true  faith  in  Christ  my  Lord, 
Obedience  to  his  holy  word, 
No  word  is  in  the  world  like  thine, 
There's  none  so  pure,  sweet  and  divine, 
From  thence  let  me  thy  will  behold, 
And  love  thy  word  above  fine  gold. 
Make  my  heart  in  thy  statutes  sound, 
And  make  my  faith  and  love  abound. 
Lord  circumcise  my  heart  to  love  thee, 
And  nothing  in  this  world  above  thee. 
Let  me  behold  thy  pleasant  face, 
And  make  my  soul  to  grow  in  grace, 
And  in  the  knowledge  of  my  Lord 
And  Saviour  Christ,  and  of  his  word. 


Now  I  lay  me  down  to  take  my  sleep, 

I  pray  the  Lord  my  soul  to  keep 

If  I  should  die  before  I  wake 

I  pray  the  Lord  my  soul  to  take.   (1737.)1 

1  This  prayer  appears  in  the  editions  of  1738,  1762,  1767., 
1768,  1770,  1 771,  1775,  etc.  "I  pray  the  Lord"  was  prob- 
ably a  misprint  for  "  1  pray  Thee  Lord,"  but  was  never  corrected. 


'   I 


BENJAMIN     COLMAN     AND 
THE    TURELLS. 

Benjamin  Colman,  one  of  the  most  cultured  of 
the  New  England  clergy,  and  head  of  the  first  organ- 
ized revolt  against  the  Puritan  Hierarchy,  was  born 
in  Boston,  October  19,  1673,  and  educated  wholly 
in  the  colony.  He  was  graduated  at  Harvard  in 
1692,  studied  for  the  ministry,  and,  after  preaching 
for  three  years,  set  sail  for  England,  which  he  reached 
after  capture  by  a  French  privateer  and  brief  impris- 
onment. During  these  trying  experiences  he  behaved 
with  distinguished  courage.  In  England  he  associ- 
ated with  prominent  Nonconformists,  and  formed  an 
attachment  —  probably  more  Platonic  than  serious  — 
for  the  celebrated  Miss  Elizabeth  Singer,  "  Philo- 
mela," whose  poetry  is  no  better  known  to-day  than 
that  of  her  American  admirer.  After  having  taken 
the  precaution  to  procure  ordination  in  England,  he 
returned  to  Boston  in  1699  and  became  pastor  of  the 
Brattle  Street  Society  organized  in  opposition  to  the 
Brahminical  Cambridge  Platform.  The  reforms  at 
which  he  and  his  Church  aimed  were  chiefly  in  the 
form  of  service  ;  they  wished  to  abolish  the  public 
relation  of  experiences,  to  read  the  Bible  and  recite 
die  Lord's  prayer.  This  was  thought  to  justify  ec- 
clesiastical ostracism,  and  other  Boston  churches  long 
refused  to  hold  communion  with  Brattle  Street  ;  but 
76 


THE   ASCENT   OF   ELIJAH.  77 

Colman  ranked  till  his  death,  August  29,  1747, 
among  the  first  of  the  New  England  clergy,  and  he 
was  active  in  civil  affairs,  in  education,  and  in  mission 
work  among  the  Indians.  It  was  a  grievous  blow  to 
the  Mathers  when  in  1724  he  was  oifered  the  Presi- 
dency of  Harvard  College,  which  eminent  position  he 
however  declined.  He  published  many  sermons, 
some  poems,  and  a  tract  in  favor  of  inoculation  for 
small-pox.  Two  years  after  his  death  a  biography 
by  his  son-in-law,  Rev.  Ebenezer  Turell,  was  pub- 
lished at  Boston.  Most  of  our  selections  to  represent 
Colman's  own  writings  are  taken  from  this  book,  and 
we  have  also  added  a  section  describing  the  young 
clergyman's  acquaintance  with  the  fair  "  Philomela." 
Mr.  Turell  (1 702-1 778),  who  was  long  minister  at 
Medford,  is  also  important  to  us  as  the  editor  of  the 
poetical  remains  of  his  wife  Jane  (1708-173  5),  Dr. 
Colman's  precocious  daughter,  whose  imitative  verses 
are  as  pathetically  impossible  as  those  of  Mrs.  Brad- 
street  herself.  As  our  selections  from  her  husband's 
loyal  memorial  are  quite  extensive,  there  is  no  need  to 
dwell  here  upon  her  life  and  character. 


THE   ASCENT   OF   ELIJAH. 

[From  «'  A  Poem  on  Elijah's  Translation," 
1707.  Occasioned  by  the  Death  of  the  Rev- 
erend and  Learned  Mr.   Samuel  Willard.] 

'Twas  at  high  noon,  the  day  serene  and  fair, 
Mountains  of  lum'nous  clouds  roll'd  in  the  air, 
When  on  a  sudden,  from  the  radiant  skies, 


78  BENJAMIN    COLMAN. 

Superior  light  flasht  in  Elisha's  eyes. 
The  Heav'ns  were  cleft,  and  from  the  imperial  throne 
A  stream  of  glory,  dazzling  splendor,  shone  ; 
Beams  of  ten  thousand  suns  shot  round  about, 
The  sun  and  every  blazon' d  cloud  went  out ; 
Bright  hosts  of  angels  lin'd  the  heavenly  way, 
To  guard  the  saint  up  to  eternal  day. 
Then  down  the  steep  descent  a  chariot  bright, 
And  steeds  of  fire,  swift  as  the  beams  of  light. 
Wing'd  seraphs  ready  stood,  bow'd  low  to  greet 
The  fav'rite  saint,  and  hand  him  to  his  seat. 
Enthron'd  he  sat,  transformed  with  joys  his  mien, 
Calm  his  gay  soul,  and,  like  his  face,  serene. 
His  eye  and  burning  wishes  to  his  God, 
Forward  he  bow'd,  and  on  the  triumph  rode. 
Saluted,  as  he  passed  the  heavenly  cloud, 
With  shouts  of  joy,  and  hallelujahs  loud. 
Ten  thousand  thousand  angel  trumpets  sound, 
And  the  vast  realms  of  heaven  echoed  round. 
They  sang  of  greater  triumphs  yet  to  come, 
Their  next  descent  to  wait  the  Saviour  home  : 
And  the  glad  errand  of  the  final  day, 
The  raised  dust  of  saints  to  bring  away 
In  equal  triumph,  and  in  like  array. 


A    QUARREL    WITH    FORTUNE. 

[From  '?  The  Life  and  Character  of  the  Rever- 
end Benjamin  Colman,  D.D."  By  E.  Turell. 
1749.      Chap.    IV.] 

[The  Daughter  with  Mr.  Colman  used  to  range  over  the  Manor 
in  the  Afternoons.      She  asked  a  poem  from  him  :   He  told  her 


THE    INCOMPARABLE    PHILOMELA.       79 

it  would  lead  into  a  Quarrel  She  promised  it  should  not  on  her 
Part.  So  the  next  Day  he  wrote  one  with  this  Title,  "  A  Quar- 
rel with  Fortune:  "  Because  (forsooth)  he  was  not  equal  to  her 
in  Rank  and  Riches  —  In  it  was  the  following  Simile.] 

So  have  I  seen  a  little  silly  fly 

Upon  a  blazing  taper  dart  and  die. 

The  foolish  insect  ravish' d  with  so  bright 

And  fair  a  glory,  would  devour  the  light. 

At  first  he  wheels  about  the  threatening  fire, 

With  a  career  as  fleet  as  his  desire  : 

This  ceremony  past,  he  joins  the  same 

In  hopes  to  be  transform' d  himself  to  flame. 

The  fiery,  circumambient  sparkles  glow, 

And  vainly  warn  him  of  his  overthrow, 

But  resolute  he'll  to  destruction  go. 

So  mean-born  mortals,  such  as  I,  aspire, 

And  injure  with  unhallowed  desire, 

The  glory  we  ought  only  to  admire. 

We  little  think  of  the  intense  fierce  flame, 

That  gold  alone  is  proof  against  the  same  ; 

And  that  such  trash  as  we,  like  drossy  lead, 

Consume  before  it,  and  it  strikes  us  dead. 


THE  INCOMPARABLE    PHILOMELA. 

[From  the  Same,  Chap.  IV.] 

One  of  the  first  pleasures  Mr.  Colman  had  at  Bath 
was  his  coming  into  an  acquaintance  with  the  lovely 
Philomela,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Singer  of  Agford  near 
Frome.  She  had  a  volume  of  poems  then  in  print, 
being   about    her  twenty-fourth   year.      Mr.    Rogers 


80  BENJAMIN    COLMAN. 

had  made  her  an  high  compliment,  in  a  book  he 
dedicated  to  the  virtuous  and  good-humored  ladies. 
Mr.  Singer  invited  him  to  come  and  see  his  daughter, 
that  she  might  thank  him.  Mr.  Colman  invited  him- 
self to  go  with  him,  having  read  her  poems.  They 
found  her  comely  in  body,  lowly  in  dress,  with  a  soul 
fair  and  bright  as  an  angel. 

Mr.  Singer  led  them  out  to  see  his  daughter's  walk 
or  lodge  near  his  house,  where  she  used  to  meditate 
and  compose.  It  was  a  retired  and  shady  path,  a 
rivulet  on  one  side,  and  tall  spreading  trees  on  the 
other.  Mr.  Rogers  required  Mr.  Colman  to  make 
a  compliment  on  the  place  :  Her  father  joined  his  re- 
quest ;  when  they  returned  he  sent  her  a  poem  which 
began  thus, 

So  Paradise  was  brightened,  so  'twas  blest, 

When  innocence  and  beauty  it  possest. 

Such  was  its  more  retired  path  and  seat, 

For  Eve  and  musing  angels  a  retreat. 

Such  Eden's  streams,  and  banks,  and  tow'ring  groves; 

Such  Eve  herself,  and  such  her  muse  and  loves. 

Only  there  wants  an  Adam  on  the  green, 

Or  else  all  Paradise  might  here  be  seen. 

Mr.  Singer  was  highly  pleased  with  Mr.  Colman,  and 
prayed  him  to  enter  into  a  friendship  and  correspond- 
ence with  his  daughter,  and  that  he  would  often  come 
and  see  them. 

Mr.  Singer  called  himself  Argos,  having  an  hundred 
eyes  upon  his  daughter,  but  he  seemed  to  shut  them 
all  in  Mr.  Colman' s  favor.  Both  father  and  daughter 
treated  him  with  utmost  freedom  and  affection.  Be- 
fore company  especially  Mrs.  Singer  behaved  as  though 
he  had  been  her  brother.       Mr.   Colman  loved  her 


THE    INCOMPARABLE    PHILOMELA.      8l 

without  the  least  intention  of  ever  saying  so  to  her. 
She  saw  it,  and  it  pleased  her  greatly.  They  wrote 
to  one  another  often  :  Mr.  Colman  made  long  visits, 
sometimes  for  days  together,  and  they  were  always 
unwilling  to  part. 

Once  he  visited  her  at  my  Lady  Weymouth's,  who 
much  esteemed  and  honored  her.  So  did  Bishop 
Ken,  who  then  resided  at  that  noble  house.  Mr. 
Roberts  of  London  was  then  with  Mr.  Colman. 
They  carried  a  note  from  her  father  without  which 
they  could  not  have  seen  her.  She  let  the  family  see 
how  much  she  regarded  him.  The  Bishop  gave  him 
his  blessing.  And  at  a  mile  from  the  Seat  they  met 
Mr.  Phillips  ofFrome,  a  very  aged  gracious  minister, 
and  he  blest  Mr.  Roberts.  Upon  which  he  turned 
and  said  to  Mr.  Colman,  M  Now,  Sir,  I  am  even  with 
you." 

Mr.  Singer  told  Mr.  Colman  that  Philomela's 
mother  was  every  way  her  superior,  in  knowledge, 
wisdom,  and  grace.  And  that  he  had  buried  a  younger 
daughter,  her  equal  in  knowledge,  and  superior  in 
grace.  Philomela  herself  told  him  it  was  very  true. 
The  discourse  of  that  afternoon  was  upon  this  dead, 
charming  sister,  the  father  being  gone  out  to  his  work. 
She  told  him  the  following  most  entertaining  story. 

**  My  sister,"  said  she,  "was  a  year  or  two  younger 
than  I,  and  her  affection  as  well  as  wit  was  quicker. 
I  seemed,  however,  to  myself  to  think  more  thoroughly. 
She  desired  ever  to  be  with  me,  and  I  wanted  to  be 
more  by  myself.  We  often  retired  by  consent,  each 
to  her  chamber,  to  compose  and  then  to  compare  what 
we  wrote.  She  always  exceeded  me  in  the  number 
of  lines,  but  mine  I  think  were  more  correct.      She 


82  BENJAMIN   COLMAN. 

exceeded  me  much  in  the  fondness  of  love,  but  never 
in  the  truth  and  strength  of  it.  She  was  jealous  of 
me  that  my  love  was  not  equal  to  hers,  and  invented 
an  hundred  ways  to  try  me.;  many  of  which  I  thought 
childish  and  weak,  and  therefore  sometimes  rather  re- 
proved than  complied  with.  This  gave  her  grief,  and 
I  should  find  her  in  tears,  which  I  could  not  put  a  stop 
to  but  by  the  tenderest  words  and  embraces. 

'«  We  lived  years  together  as  happy  as  children 
could  be  in  one  another  ;  we  lived  religiously  together  ; 
took  care  of  one  another's  souls,  and  had  our  constant 
hours  for  retirement  and  devotion.  We  were  daily 
speaking  to  one  another  of  the  things  of  God,  his  being, 
perfections,  works  ;  the  wonders  of  creation  and  provi- 
dence, the  mysteries  of  redemption  and  grace.  —  My 
father  in  his  widowhood  took  great  delight  in  us,  cher- 
ished our  love  to  God  and  one  another,  but  like  good 
Jacob,  was  fondest  of  the  youngest,  admiring  all  that 
she  said  or  did.  And  in  her  death  he  was  to  be 
tried.  — 

*'  But  it  was  I  that  was  taken  sick,  to  a  very  dan- 
gerous degree.  And  when  the  physicians  were  giv- 
ing me  over,  my  dear  sister  came  to  me  drowned  in 
tears  ;  and  earnestly  kissing  me,  besought  me  to  tell 
her  whether  I  was  (through  grace)  prepared  to  die  ? 
Whether  my  interest  in  Christ  and  title  to  heaven  were 
comfortable  and  clear  to  me  ?  For  she  was  afraid  I 
would  die  ;  and  she  could  not  part  with  me  only  to 
go  to  Christ,  which  was  far  the  better. 

"  I  looked  earnestly  upon  her  and  said,  '  Why, 
sister,  do  you  think  me  dangerous  ?  I  must  confess 
to  you  my  distress  would  be  great  on  account  of  my 
soul,  if  I  thought  my  dying  hour  were  now  coming 


THE    INCOMPARABLE    PHILOMELA.      83 

on  :  for  I  have  not  that  full  assurance  of  my  interest 
in  Christ,  which  I  have  always  begged  of  God  I  might 
have,  before  he  would  call  me  hence.' 

"  No  sooner  had  she  heard  me  say  this,  but  she 
fell  as  in  an  agony  on  her  knees  by  my  bed,  and  in  a 
manner  inexpressible  for  fervor  and  humility,  she 
begged  of  God,  « That  if  her  father  must  have  the 
grief  of  burying  one  of  his  children,  it  might  be  her  ; 
for  through  his  free  grace,  and  to  the  glory  of  it,  she 
could  humbly  profess  before  him  her  assured  hope  of 
her  interest  in  his  everlasting  mercy  through  Jesus 
Christ.  Wherefore  she  could  gladly  and  joyfully  sur- 
render herself  to  die,  if  it  might  please  God  to  grant 
her  sister  a  further  space  wherein  to  make  her  calling 
and  election  sure.' 

M  Having  prayed  thus  in  a  transport  which  was  sur- 
prising and  astonishing  to  me,  she  kissed  me  and  left 
the  room,  without  giving  me  time  or  power  to  answer 
her  a  word.  And,  what  is  almost  incredible  to  re- 
late, from  that  minute  I  grew  better  and  recovered, 
but  she  took  her  bed,  and  died  within  a  few  days. 

"  Conceive,  if  you  can,  Mr.  Colman,  how  I  was 
astonished  at  this  event  of  Providence,  and  over- 
whelmed with  sorrow  ;  and  my  father  with  me.  Yet 
I  recovered  health  :  but  the  load  of  grief  upon  me 
confined  me  to  my  chamber  for  more  than  six  weeks. 
My  chief  work  was  to  consider  the  mind  of  God,  in 
this  his  mercy  to  me,  that  I  might  make  it  evident  to 
myself,  that  indeed  in  love  to  my  soul  he  delivered 
me  from  the  pit  of  corruption.  I  set  myself  to  com- 
fort my  father,  what  I  could,  and  that  was  his  care 
for  me.  We  durst  not  be  inconsolable  under  a  be- 
reavement  so  circumstanced.      Yet  my  mourning  is 


84  BENJAMIN    COLMAN. 

always  returning  with  a  remembrance  of  a  love 
stronger  than  death,  and  bright  like  the  Seraphims, 
those  flames  of  love  and  devotion." 

How  exalted  a  conversation  was  this  which  Mr. 
Colman  had  with  Mrs.  Singer.  He  told  her  upon 
it  that  he  was  more  in  love  with  the  dead  than  the 
living  :  and  that  she  must  yield  her  sister  the  victory  ; 
and  confess  her  love  to  excell  in  strength  as  well  as 
fervor. 

After  many  such  happy  conversations  the  day  ar- 
rived when  he  was  obliged  to  pay  a  parting  visit, 
being  earnestly  invited  to  New-England  and  to  a 
settlement  in  Boston,  which  he  informed  the  family 
of  —  when  Mrs.  Singer  poured  out  a  thousand  wishes 
for  his  prosperity  ;  his  serviceableness  in  the  church 
of  Christ  on  earth,  and  his  happiness  with  her  in 
that  above  for  ever.  Her  father  added  a  thousand 
prayers  and  blessings  to  hers,  with  tears  and  the  most 
tender  embraces.  Mr.  Colman  believed  God  called 
him  to  return  home  to  his  dear  relations  and  loved 
country. — 

His  character  of  Mrs.  Singer  in  his  manuscripts 
follows,  —  "  She  was  an  heavenly  maid  of  sublime 
devotion  and  piety,  as  well  as  ingenuity  and  wit. 
How  she  had  collected  such  a  stock  of  knowledge 
and  literature,  by  reading  and  conversation,  without 
a  learned  tutor  was  wonderful.  But  her  wisdom  and 
discretion  outshone  her  knowledge.  She  had  only 
her  mother  tongue,  but  had  made  all  the  improve- 
ment of  an  academical  education.  She  was  a  poet, 
a  philosopher  and  a  divine.  And  above  all,  a  most 
devout  worshipper  of  God  in  secret  and  in  public. 
She  hid  herself  in   the  public  worship  in  an  obscure 


A    MEDITATION.  85 

place,  where  she  could  neither  see  others  nor  be  seen 
by  them. 

««  Music,  poetry  and  painting  were  her  three  beauties 
and  delights.  She  used  her  pencil  almost  as  well  as 
her  pen.  She  never  was  idle,  but  either  her  needle 
or  her  pencil  was  going  in  all  conversations.  And 
what  she  drew  she  gave  to  the  company. —  She  used 
to  declare  the  great  assistance  she  had  sometimes 
found  in  her  devotions  by  the  organs,  and  anthems 
well  sung  to  them." 


A    MEDITATION. 
[From  the  Same,   Chap.  IX.] 

[Upon  his  removal  from  his  house  in  King-Street  to  his  new- 
built  house  in  Brattle-Street,  May,  171  5,  he  wrote  this  meditation.] 

"  It  was  a  very  pleasing  and  instructive  sight  once 
to  me  in  a  far  distant  land,  where  a  person  of  honor 
and  riches  was  building  a  stately  house  for  himself  and 
his  family,  but  at  once  he  took  off  the  work-men  to 
build  himself  a  vault  or  tomb  to  be  buried  in.  It 
becomes  us  ever  to  keep  in  mind,  and  lay  to  heart, 
the  remove  that  we  must  soon  make  to  our  grave. — 
A  convenient  house,  an  easy  bed,  and  agreeable 
relatives,  are  among  the  valuable  comforts  of  this 
life.  When  we  are  building  to  ourselves  pleasant 
houses  to  live  in,  we  should  all  the  while  be  thinking 
of  the  darksome  house  or  place,  where  our  bodies 
will  shortly  be  laid  :  and  when  we  enter  into  our 
new  habitations,  or  after  we  are  settled  in  them,  the 
same  thought  must  still  abide  with  us.      We  must  not 


86  BENJAMIN    COLMAN. 

entertain  a  thought  of  living  long  ;  and  must  be  willing 
and  ready  to  go,  and  to  leave  our  new-built  houses 
as  soon  as  God  calls  us  away.  They  are  only  to  be 
used  as  accommodations  for  us  in  the  way  unto  an 
everlasting  habitation  and  house  eternal. —  We  may 
not  set  too  much  by  an  house  on  earth,  but  ought  to 
raise  our  affections  to  things  above,  &c.  — We  ought 
to  serve  God  in  our  houses.  This  was  Joshua's  holy 
resolution.  As  for  me  and  my  house,  we  will  serve 
the  Lord!  And  this  was  David's,  Psal.  101.  / 
will  walk  within  my  house  with  a  perfect  heart,  etc. 
Surely  we  ought,  under  the  outward  smiles  of  Provi- 
dence upon  us,  to  be  renewing  the  consecration  of 
ourselves  and  all  that  we  have  to  the  service  of  God  ; 
We  ought  like  Abraham,  to  charge  our  households  and 
our  children  after  us  to  keep  the  way  of  the  Lord. 
We  ought  to  worship  God  in  secret,  in  our  closets, 
and  we  ought  every  day  to  pray  to,  and  praise  him 
in  our  families  ;  we  ought  to  read  his  holy  word,  and 
meditate  on  his  law,  and  teach  it  diligently  to  our 
children,  and  talk  of  it  when  we  set  in  our  house, 
when  we  lay  down,  &c.  Thus  we  must  write  as 
it  were  upon  the  posts  of  our  house,  and  our  gates, 
Deut.  6.  7,  9.  —  Our  houses  should  be  Bethels,  little 
churches  for  the  practice  of  piety,  and  the  exercises 
of  devotion  therein,  that  the  Apostle's  salutation  may 
reach  us,  Rom.  16,  5.  Greet  the  Church  in  their 
House.  With  these  and  such  like  meditations,  I  can 
truly  say,  I  have  been  building,  and  would  now  enter 
into  my  new  and  pleasant  habitation  :  may  they  abide 
and  dwell  always  in  my  soul  that  thus  I  may  there 
dwell  the  few  remaining  days  of  my  frail  life. 


MEMOIRS 

OF    THE 

Life  and  Death 

Of  the  Pious  and    Ingenious 

MRS.  JANE  TURELL 

Who  died  at  Medford,  March  26th 
1735.      MteX..  27. 

Collected  chiefly  from   her  own   Manuscripts 

By  her  Consort 

The  Revd  Mr.  Ebenezer  Turell,  M.A. 

Pastor  of  the  Church  in  Medford. 

Her  Husband  also  and  He  praiseth  her.    Prov.  xxxi,28, 

To  which  is  added, 
Two  SERMONS  preached  at  Med- 
ford, the  Lord's  Day  after  her  Funeral, 
by  her  Father  Benjamin  Co/man,  D.D. 

LONDON : 

Printed  for  John  Oswald,  at  the  Rose  and 

Cr-oivn,  near  the  Mansion-House,  1741. 

[Price  stitch'd  is.  bound  is.  6d.] 


88  BENJAMIN    COLMAN. 


THE    LIFE    OF    MRS.  JANE   TURELL. 

There  is  a  passage  in  Tully,  the  Roman  orator, 
to  this  purpose,  M  That  if  virtue  were  incorporate,  and 
to  be  seen  with  our  bodily  eyes  in  a  substantial  form, 
she  would  carry  such  charms  along  with  her  as  to 
ravish  her  beholders,  and  command  the  love  and 
admiration  of  all  that  saw  her."  Alike  beautiful  and 
engaging  (and  more  so)should  the  holy  life  and  shin- 
ing example  of  the  Christian  be,  to  all  that  are  blest 
with  the  sight  and  knowledge  of  it  ;  for  herein  we 
not  only  behold  the  godlike  image  of  it,  but  learn 
the  practicableness  of  the  thing,  and  have  our  natural 
ambition  and  imitation  mightily  fired  and  excited. 

That  my  readers  may  be  charmed  into  a  love  and 
admiration  of  virtue  and  holiness,  I  now  place  before 
their  eyes  the  picture  of  my  dear  deceased  ;  the  lines  and 
lineaments, colors  and  shades  laid  and  drawn  by  herown 
lovely  hand,  guided  by  the  spirit  of  grace  and  truth. 

And  I  present  it  particularly  and  in  the  first  place 
to  her  dear  and  only  surviving  sister  ;  and  then  to 
her  nearest  relatives  and  acquaintance,  and  to  all  the 
rising  daughters  of  New- England,  that  they  mav 
understand  what  true  beauty  is,  and  what  the  brightest 
ornaments  of  their  sex  are,  and  seek  them  with  their 
whole  desire  ;  Even  the  bidden  man  of  the  heart, 
in  that  which  is  not  corruptible,  the  ornament  of  a 
meek  and  quiet  spirit,  which  is  in  the  sight  of  God  of 
great  price.  For  favor  is  deceitful,  and  beauty  is 
vain  :  but  a  woman  that  feareth  the  Lord,  she  shall 
be  praised. —  And  such  an  one  (with  some  additional 
excellencies  and   accomplishments)    was    Mrs.    Jane 


LIFE    OF    MRS.   JANE    TURELL.  89 

Turell,  born  in  Boston,  New-England,  Feb.  25.  a.d. 
1708,  of  parents  honorable  and  religious. 

Her  father  the  Rev.  Dr.  Benjamin  Colman  (thro' 
the  gracious  favor  of  God)  is  still  living  among  us, 
one  universally  acknowledged  to  be  even  from  his 
younger  times  (at  home  and  abroad)  a  bright  orna- 
ment and  honor  to  his  country,  and  an  instrument  in 
God's  hand  of  bringing  much  good  to  it. 

Her  mother  Mrs.  Jane  Colman  was  a  truly  gracious 
woman,  daughter  of  Mr.  Thomas  Clark,  Gentleman. 

Mrs.  Turell  was  their  third  child,  graciously  given 
them  after  they  had  mourned  the  loss  of  the  two 
former  ;  and  for  seven  years  their  only  one.  Her 
constitution  from  her  early  infancy  was  wonderful 
weak  and  tender,  yet  the  organs  of  her  body  so  formed 
as  not  to  obstruct  the  free  operation  of  the  active  and 
capacious  spirit  within. 

The  buddings  of  reason  and  religion  appeared  on 
her  sooner  than  usual.  Before  her  second  year  was 
completed  she  could  speak  distinctly,  knew  her  letters, 
and  could  relate  many  stories  out  of  the  Scriptures  to 
the  satisfaction  and  pleasure  of  the  most  judicious.  I 
have  heard  that  Governor  Dudley,  with  other  wise 
and  polite  gentlemen,  have  placed  her  on  a  table, 
and  sitting  round  it,  owned  themselves  diverted  with 
her  stories.  Before  she  was  four  years  old  (so  strong 
and  tenacious  was  her  memory),  she  could  say  the 
greater  part  of  the  Assembly's  Catechism,  many  of 
the  Psalms,  some  hundred  lines  of  the  best  poetry, 
read  distinctly,  and  make  pertinent  remarks  on  many 
things  she  read. 

She  grew  in  knowledge  (the  most  useful)  day  by 
day,  and  had  the  fear  of  God  before  her  eyes. 


90  BENJAMIN    COLMAN. 

She  prayed  to  God  sometimes  by  excellent  forms 
(recommended  to  her  by  her  father  and  suited  to  her 
age  and  circumstances)  and  at  other  times  ex  corde, 
the  spirit  of  God  helping  her  infirmities.  When  her 
father,  upon  a  time  enquired  of  her  what  words  she 
used  in  prayer  to  God,  she  answered  him,  that  when 
she  was  upon  her  knees  God  gave  her  expressions. 

Even  at  the  age  of  four,  five,  and  six  she  asked 
many  astonishing  questions  about  divine  mysteries, 
and  carefully  laid  up  and  hid  the  answers  she  received 
to  them  in  her  heart. 

Throughout  her  childhood  she  discovered  a  very 
serious  spirit.  Her  heart  was  tender,  and  her  con- 
science a  well-informed  faithful  guide  and  monitor. 

The  most  that  I  am  able  to  collect  of  her  life  from 
six  to  ten  is  general  (and  from  her),  viz.,  that  her 
father  daily  instructed  her,  and  enriched  her  mind 
with  the  best  knowledge  ;  and  excited  her  to  the 
due  performance  of  all  duty.  And  that  her  tender, 
gracious  mother  (who  died  about  four  years  before 
her)  often  prayed  for,  and  over  her,  and  gave  her 
the  wisest  counsels,  and  most  faithful  warnings  ;  and 
that  she  was  thankful  and  grew  in  knowledge  and  (she 
hoped)  in  grace  under  them.  That  she  loved  the 
school  and  the  exercises  of  it,  and  made  a  laudable 
progress  in  the  various  kinds  of  learning  proper  to 
her  age  and  sex. 

At  nine  or  ten  (if  not  before)  she  was  able  to 
write;  for  in  the  year  1 7 1 8,  I  find  a  letter  of  her 
honored  father's  to  her,  wrote  in  answer  to  one  of 
hers,  dated  Brookline  —  which  he  expresses  himself 
well  pleased  with.      A  copy  of  it  follows  : 


LIFE    OF    MRS.   JANE    TURELL.  9 1 

Boston,  Aug.  4th,  171 8. 
"  My  dear   Child, 

"  I  have  this  morning  your  letter,  which  pleases 
me  very  well,  and  gives  me  hopes  of  many  a  pleasant 
line  from  you  in  time  to  come  ;  if  God  spare  you  to 
me,  and  me  to  you. 

"  I  very  much  long  to  see  your  mother,  but  doubt 
whether  the  weather  will  permit  me  to-day.  I  pray 
God  to  bless  you  and  make  you  one  of  his  children. 
1  charge  you  to  pray  daily,  and  read  your  Bible,  and  fear 
to  sin.  Be  very  dutiful  to  your  mother  and  respect- 
ful to  everybody.  Be  very  humble  and  modest, 
womanly  and  discreet.  Take  care  of  your  health, 
and  as  you  love  me  do  not  eat  green  apples.  Drink 
sparingly  of  the  waters,  except  the  day  be  warm. 
When  I  last  saw  you,  you  were  too  shame-faced  ; 
look  people  in  the  face,  speak  freely  and  behave  de- 
cently. I  hope  to  bring  Nabby  in  her  grandfather's 
chariot  to  see  you.  The  meanwhile  J  kiss  your  dear 
mother,  and  commend  her  health  to  the  gracious  care 
of  God,  and  you  with  her  to  his  grace.      Give  my 

service  to  Mr.  A and  family  :   also  to  Mr.  S 

and  madame  ;   and  be  sure  you  never  forget  the  respect 
they  have  honored  you  with. 

"  Your  loving  Father." 

In  this  her  eleventh  year  I  find  an  hymn  fairly 
written  by  her,  dated  January  4,  171  8,  which  I  give 
you  verbatim  : 

I  fear  the  great  Eternal  One  above, 
The  God  of  Grace,  the  God  of  Love  : 
He  to  whom  seraphims  hallelujahs  sing, 
And  angels  do  their  songs  and  praises  bring. 


92  BENJAMIN    COLMAN. 

Happy  the  soul  that  does  in  heaven  rest, 
Where  with  his  Saviour  he  is  ever  blest ; 
With  heavenly  joys  and  rapture  is  possest, 
No  thoughts  but  of  his  God  inspire  his  breast. 
Happy  are  they  that  walk  in  wisdom's  ways, 
That  tread  her  paths,  and  shine  in  all  her  rays. 

Her  father  was  pleased  to  encourage  her  in  this 
feeble  essay  she  made  at  verse  :  he  condescended  to 
return  her  rhymes  like  her  own,  level  to  her  present 
capacity,  with  a  special  aim  to  keep  and  fix  her  mind 
on  God  and  heavenly  things,  with  which  she  had 
begun.  [A  poem  addressed  to  her  by  her  father  is 
here  inserted.] 

These  condescensions  of  her  father  were  no  doubt 
of  great  use  to  her,  and  had  in  some  measure  the 
effect  proposed,  to  put  her  on  thinking  and  writing 
more  and  better,  and  to  gain  more  of  his  esteem  for 
ingenuity  and  piety,  which  she  was  wisely  ambitious 
of;  but  above  all  to  approve  her  heart  before  God, 
her  Heavenly  Father  who  sees  in  secret.    .    .    . 

Various   Juvenile   "  Composures." 

Between  these  and  her  eighteenth  year  there  are 
to  be  seen  among  her  composures  many  things  con- 
siderable both  in  verse  and  prose. 

In  poetry  (among  others),  there  are  the  following  : 

'<  To  her  honored  father,  on  his  being  chosen 
President  of  Harvard  College,"  a  poem  of  thirty 
lines,  dated  December  27,   1724,  which  begins  thus  : 

Sir, 

An  infant  muse  begs  leave  beneath  your  feet, 

To  lay  the  first  essays  of  her  poetic  wit ; 


LIFE   OF   MRS.   JANE   TURELL.  93 

That  under  your  protection  she  may  raise 
Her  song  to  some  exalted  pitch  of  praise, 
You  who  among  the  bards  are  found  the  chief,  etc. 

But  I  am  not  allowed  to  insert  the  other  lines,  and 
but  a  small  part  of  the  next  poem  to  her  friend,  on  her 
return  to  Boston,  which  begins  after  this  manner  : 

Thrice  welcome  home,  thou  glory  of  our  isle, 
On  whom  indulgent  heaven  delights  to  smile  ; 
Whose  face  the  graces  make  their  chosen  seat, 
In  whom  the  charms  of  wit  and  beauty  meet. 
O,  with  what  wond'ring  eyes  I  on  you  gaze, 
And  can't  recover  from  the  sweet  amaze  ! 
This  lovely  form,  those  sweet  but  sparkling  eyes 
Have  made  the  noble  Polydore  their  prize,  etc. 

On  Reading  the  Warning  by   Mrs.    Singer. 

Surprised  I  view,  wrote  by  a  female  pen, 

Such  a  grave  warning  to  the  sons  of  men. 

Bold  was  the  attempt  and  worthy  of  your  lays, 

To  strike  at  vice,  and  sinking  virtue  raise. 

Each  noble  line  a  pleasing  terror  gives, 

A  secret  force  in  every  sentence  lives. 

Inspired  by  virtue  you  could  safely  stand 

The  fair  reprover  of  a  guilty  land. 

You  vie  with  the  famed  prophetess  of  old, 

Burn  with  her  fire,  in  the  same  cause  grow  bold. 

Dauntless  you  undertake  th'  unequal  strife, 

And  raise  dead  virtue  by  your  verse  to  life. 

A  woman's  pen  strikes  the  cursed  serpent's  head, 

And  lays  the  monster  gasping,  if  not  dead. 

To  my  Muse,   December   29,    1752. 

Come,  gentle  muse,  and  once  more  lend  thine  aid, 

O  bring  thy  succor  to  a  humble  maid  ! 

How  often  dost  thou  liberally  dispense 

To  our  dull  breast  thy  quick' ning  influence  ! 


94  BENJAMIN    COLMAN. 

By  thee  inspired,  I'll  cheerful  tune  my  voice, 

And  love  and  sacred  friendship  make  my  choice. 

In  my  pleased  bosom  you  can  freely  pour 

A  greater  treasure  than  Jove's  golden  shower. 

Come  now,  fair  muse,  and  fill  my  empty  mind, 

With  rich  ideas,  great  and  unconfined. 

Instruct  me  in  those  secret  arts  that  lie 

Unseen  to  all  but  to  a  poet's  eye. 

O  let  me  burn  with  Sappho's  noble  fire, 

But  not  like  her  for  faithless  man  expire. 

And  let  me  rival  great  Orinda's  fame, 

Or  like  sweet  Philomela's  be  my  name. 

Go  lead  the  way,  my  muse,  nor  must  you  stop, 

'Till  we  have  gained  Parnassus'  shady  top  : 

'Till  I  have  viewed  those  fragrant  soft  retreats, 

Those  fields  of  bliss,  the  muses'  sacred  seats. 

I'll  then  devote  thee  to  fair  virtue's  fame, 

And  so  be  worthy  of  a  poet's  name. 

These  were  the  early  essays  of  her  youth  at  poetry, 
in  which  it  must  be  freely  owned  that  as  there  are  many 
things  good  and  ingenious,  so  there  is  a  great  deal  low 
and  juvenile  ;  which  the  candid  understanding  reader 
will  be  ready  to  excuse,  from  that  common  rule  of 
a  child's  speaking  and  writing  as  a  child.  At  the  same 
time,  the  turn  of  the  mind  here  evident  to  God  and 
religion,  is  what  the  pious  will  esteem  and  praise,  and 
it  is  to  be  wished  that  children  may  be  taken  herewith 
and  drawn  to  imitate.  It  is  enough  (as  her  honored 
father  elegantly  expressed  it  to  me)  if  they  may 
be  accepted  as  a  green  offering  of  first-fruits  brought 
to  the  door  of  the  Sanctuary,  the  promising  earnest 
of  a  future  harvest  ;  at  least,  as  the  first  lisping  of  the 
tongue  at  words  is  a  pleasing  music  to  the  ear  of  the 
mother,  and  the  first  efforts  of  the  mind  at  reasoning 
delightful  to  a  father,  so  are  the  first  risings  of  a  natural 
genius  unto  a  wise  observer. 


LIFE   OF    MRS.    JANE   TURELL.  95 

In  prose  there  are  also  many  things : 

Some  essay  to  write  her  own  life,  which  begins 
with  thanksgivings  to  God  for  distinguishing  her  from 
most  in  the  world  by  the  blessings  of  nature,  Provi- 
dence, and  grace  which  she  specifies  and  enumerates 
in  the  following  manner  : 

( 1 )  I  thank  God  for  my  immortal  soul,  and  that 
reason  and  understanding  which  distinguishes  me  from 
the  lower  creatures. 

(2)  For  my  birth  in  a  Christian  country,  in  a  land 
of  light,  where  the  true  God  and  Jesus  Christ  are 
known. 

(3)  For  pious  and  honorable  parents,  whereby  I 
am  favored  beyond  many  others. 

(4)  For  faithful  and  godly  ministers,  who  are  from 
time  to  time  shewing  me  the  way  of  salvation. 

(5)  For  a  polite  as  well  as  Christian  education. 

(6)  For  restraining  grace,  that  I  have  been  with- 
held from  more  open  and  gross  violations  of  God's 
holy  law. 

Her  thoughts  on  matrimony,  with  the  rules  whereby 
she  resolved  to  guide  herself  in  that  important  affair 
of  life. 

She  writes  of  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  God  in 
making  man  a  sociable  creature  ;  of  the  institution  of 
marriage  in  paradisaical  state,  and  the  happiness  of  the 
first  couple  ;  and  what  alone  will  render  persons  happy 
in  our  fallen  state  ;  namely,  a  faithful  discharge  of  all 
the  duties  of  that  relation  ;  and  then  particularizes  the 
duties,  and  treats  of  the  mischiefs  that  follow  upon  the 
neglect  of  them  ;   shows  at  large  what   their  duty  is 


96  BENJAMIN    COLMAN. 

who  are  about  to  enter  into  that  state,  namely,  to 
seek  to  God  by  humble  prayer  for  his  direction  and 
conduct,  and  that  he  would  overrule  all  the  circum- 
stances of  that  momentous  affair  in  mercy,  on  which 
so  much  of  the  comfort  and  pleasure  of  life  depends. 
—  She  carries  her  thoughts  to  the  afflictions  and 
temptations  of  that  condition,  and  prays  for  sufficient 
grace  to  carry  aright  under  all.  And  for  her  assist- 
ance in  making  a  right  choice  she  laid  down  a  num- 
ber of  rules,  from  which  she  resolves  never  to  start. 
Some  of  them  are  the  following  : 

(i)  "I  would  admit  the  addresses  of  no  person 
who  is  not  descended  of  pious  and  credible  parents. 

(2)  '«  Who  has  not  the  character  of  a  strict  moral- 
ist, sober,  temperate,  just  and  honest. 

(3)  f*  Diligent  in  his  business,  and  prudent  in 
matters. 

(4)  "  Fixed  in  his  religion,  a  constant  attender  on 
the  public  worship,  and  who  appears  not  in  God's 
house  with  the  gravity  becoming  a  Christian. 

(5)  "  Of  a  sweet  and  agreeable  temper  ;  for  if  he 
be  owner  of  all  the  former  good  qualifications,  and 
fails  here,  my  life  will  be  still  uncomfortable." 

3.  Many  letters  to  her  honored  father  on  various 
occasions. 

I  shall  only  present  you  with  one  dated  June  1  ith, 

1725. 

U  Honored   Sir, 

'*  I  return  you  many  thanks  for  your  kind 
letters  to  me,  which  I  read  with  vast  delight  and 
reverence,   as  who  would  not  such  good  and  tender 


LIFE    OF    MRS.    JANE    TURELL.  97 

lines  from  the  best  of  fathers,  who  has  spared 
no  cost  nor  pains  in  my  education.  It  is  no  small 
grief  to  me  that  I  answer  them  no  better,  that  I  have 
so  little  of  his  soul  in  me,  from  whom  I  descend.  I 
heartily  embrace  the  offer  you  condescend  to  make 
of  conversing  by  letter,  by  which  I  shall  not  only 
learn  to  write  good  sense,  but  also  be  instructed  how 
to  behave  myself  in  all  the  changes  and  conditions  of 
life,  as  becomes  a  Christian  ;  not  to  be  too  elated  in 
prosperity,  nor  sunk  under  adversity,  but  ever  re- 
signed to  the  will  of  God  in  all  things.  I  beg  your 
prayers  for  me  that,  as  I  grow  in  years,  I  may  grow 
in  grace,  and  persevere  therein.  I  pray  you  to  for- 
give the  many  faults  in  my  present  writing,  and  sub- 
scribe myself  with  all  humility, 

"Your  dutiful  and  obedient  Daughter!" 

Before  she  had  seen  eighteen,  she  had  read,  and 
(in  some  measure)  digested  all  the  English  poetry  and 
polite  pieces  in  prose,  printed  and  manuscripts,  in  her 
father's  well  furnished  library,  and  much  she  borrowed 
of  her  friends  and  acquaintance.  She  had  indeed  such 
a  thirst  after  knowledge  that  the  leisure  of  the  day  did 
not  suffice,  but  she  spent  whole  nights  in  reading. 

I  find  she  was  sometimes  fired  with  a  laudable  am- 
bition of  raising  the  honor  of  her  sex,  who  are  there- 
fore under  obligations  to  her  ;  and  all  will  be  ready 
to  own  she  had  a  fine  genius,  and  is  to  be  placed 
among  those  who  have  excelled. 

When  I  was  first  inclined  (by  the  motions  of  God's 
providence  and  spirit)  to  seek  her  acquaintance  (which 
was  about  the  time  she  entered  in  her  nineteenth  year) 
I  was  surprised  and  charmed  to  find  her  so  accom- 


98  BENJAMIN    COLMAN. 

plished.  I  found  her  in  a  good  measure  mistress  of 
the  politest  writers  and  their  works  ;  could  point  out 
the  beauties  in  them,  and  had  made  many  of  their 
best  thoughts  her  own  :  And  as  she  went  into  more 
free  conversation,  she  discoursed  how  admirably  on 
many  subjects  ! 

I  grew  by  degrees  into  such  an  opinion  of  her  good 
taste,  that  when  she  put  me  upon  translating  a  psalm  or 
two,  I  was  ready  to  excuse  myself,  and  if  I  had  not 
feared  to  displease  her  should  have  denied  her  request. 

After  her  marriage,  which  was  on  August  1 1  th, 
1726,  her  custom  was,  once  in  a  month  or  two,  to 
make  some  new  essay  in  verse  or  prose,  and  to  read 
from  day  to  day  as  much  as  a  faithful  discharge  of  the 
duties  of  her  new  condition  gave  leisure  for  :  and  I 
think  I  may  with  truth  say  that  she  made  the  writing 
of  poetry  a  recreation  and  not  a  business. 

What  greatly  contributed  to  increase  her  knowledge 
in  divinity,  history,  physic,  controversy,  as  well  as 
poetry,  was  her  attentive  hearing  most  that  I  read 
upon  those  heads  through  the  long  evenings  of  the 
winters  as  we  sat  together. 

Some  of  the  many  remarkable  things  she  wrote  in 
her  marriage  state  are  the  following  ;  some  in  verse, 
and  more  in  prose. 

November  1st,  1  7  3  1 .  She  sent  her  father  the 
following  letter,  with  an  encomium  on  Sir  Richard 
Blackmore's  Poetical  Works.  She  knew  it  would  be 
pleasing  enough  to  her  father,  to  hear  her  sing  in  praise 
of  Sir  Richard,  of  whom  she  always  heard  him  speak 
with  great  esteem  ;  not  as  the  first  of  poets,  but  as  one 
of  the  best ;  consecrating  his  muse  to  the  cause  of  vir- 
tue and  religion,  with  a  most  noble  aim  to  inspire  the 


LIFE   OF    MRS.   JANE   TURELL.  99 

princes  and  nobles  of  the  nation,  with  the  true  senti- 
ments of  glory  and  usefulness  ;  than  which  nothing 
could  be  more  worthy  of  a  Christian  poet  and  an  Eng- 
lish patriot.  And  as  such  he  is  celebrated  in  the  fol- 
lowing poem  : 

%■  *  ^       »       ^  %. 

On  the  Poems  of  Sir   Richard  Blackmore. 

Blackmore,  thou  wondrous  Bard  !  whose  name  inspires 

My  glowing  breast  to  imitate  thy  fires. 

O  that  my  muse  could  give  a  lasting  fame  ! 

Then  should  my  verse  immortalize  thy  name. 

Thy  matchless  lines  thy  inborn  worth  displays, 

Inspires  our  souls,  and  fills  our  mouths  with  praise. 

Thou  for  Mankind's  preceptor  Heaven  design'd, 

To  form  their  manners,  and  instruct  their  mind. 

In  virtue's  cause  undaunted  you  engage, 

To  stem  the  tide  of  vice,  reform  the  stage, 

And  place  the  present  with  the  Golden  Age. 

*  *  *  *  # 

O  happy  land  !   and  of  unrivaled  fame, 
That  claims  thy  birth,  and  boasts  so  great  a  name  ! 
Albion  alone  is  blest  with  such  a  son, 
A  birth  to  ages  past,  and  thee,  O  Greece,  unknown. 

When  she  had  read  Mr.  Waller's  poems,  it  ap- 
pears that  she  was  struck  with  the  pleasing  admiration 
of  him  also  ;  as  for  the  beauty  of  his  thoughts,  so 
more  especially  for  the  purity  of  his  style  and  delicacy 
of  language.  It  was  he  that  taught  us  the  simplicity 
and  easiness  of  expression,  which  has  ever  since  been 
the  character  of  our  best  writers. 

On  the   Incomparable   Mr.    Waller. 

Hail,  chaste  Urania  !   thy  assistance  bring, 
And  fire  my  breast  while  I  attempt  to  sing, 
In  artless  lays,  Waller,  the  poets'  king. 


100  BENJAMIN    COLMAN. 

Waller,  the  tuneful  name  my  soul  inspires, 
And  kindles  in  my  breast  poetic  fires. 

Hail,  mighty  genius  !     Favorite  of  the  nine  ! 
Thy  merits  in  four  reigns  distinguished  shine. 
Country  and  court,  alternate,  you  enjoy, 
One  claims  thy  nobler  thoughts,  and  one  thy  muse  employ, 

Chaste  is  thy  muse,  and  lofty  is  her  song, 
Softer  than  Ovid  and  like  Virgil  strong. 
Much  thee  thy  country,  more  its  language  owe, 
All  that  adorns  it,  it  received  from  you. 

*  *  *  *  * 

A  tender  passion  every  bosom  warms, 
Whene'er  you  sing  of  Sacharissa's  charms, 
O  lovely  maid  !   mild  as  the  morning  light, 
When  first  its  beams  salute  our  longing  sight. 
As  virgin  fountains  in  their  basins  roll, 
So  calm,  so  bright  is  Sacharissa's  soul. 
As  the  fierce  sun,  by  his  meridian  rays, 
Exhales  the  moisture  from  this  lower  earth  ; 
Again  at  night  by  dews  the  fields  repays, 
That  nature  labors  with  a  double  birth  : 
So  you  engross  in  your  capacious  soul 
All  that  the  world  polite  and  learned  call ; 
But  in  your  works  you  do  repay  the  whole, 
With  large  additions  of  your  own  to  all. 
O  happy  isle  that  bare  a  son  so  bright, 
Of  whom  the  ages  since  have  learned  to  write. 


Her   Character. 

Some  unhappy  affairs  at  Medford  in  the  years  1729 
and  '30,  produced  many  prayers  and  tears  from  her, 
with   the   following   poem    in  imitation    of  the    133 


LIFE   OF   MRS.  JANE   TURELL.       1 01 

psalm,  which  I  publish  as  a  monument  for  and  motive 
to  my  own  people,  to  continue  in  love  and  peace  : 

Behold  how  good,  how  sweet,  their  joy  does  prove, 

Where  brethren  dwell  in  unity  and  love  ! 

When  no  contention,  strife  or  fatal  jar 

Disturb  the  peace  and  raise  the  noisy  war. 

'Tis  like  the  ointment,  which  of  old  was  poured 

On  Aaron's  head,  and  down  his  garments  showered; 

Through  all  the  air  perfuming  odor  spreads, 

Diffusing  sweetness  to  the  neighboring  meads. 

Or  like  the  dew  on  Hermon's  lofty  head 

Which  on  the  mounts  of  Zion  moisture  spread. 

'Circled  with  peace,  they  shall  within  the  land 

As  shining  patterns,  and  examples  stand. 

If  sinners  wrangle,  let  the  saints  agree  ; 

The  gospel  breathes  out  naught  but  unity. 

To  such  the  blessing  from  the  Lord  is  given, 

Even  life  eternal,  in  the  highest  heaven. 

Having  related  these  things,  you  will  not  wonder 
if  I  now  declare  myself  a  witness  of  her  daily  close 
walk  with  God  during  her  married  state,  and  of  her 
retirements  for  reading,  self-examination  and  devotion. 

It  was  her  practice  to  read  the  Bible  out  in  course 
once  a  year,  the  book  of  Psalms  much  oftener,  besides 
many  chapters  and  a  multitude  of  verses  which  she 
kept  turned  down  in  a  Bible,  which  she  had  been  the 
owner  and  reader  of  more  than  twenty  years.  If  I 
should  only  present  my  readers  with  a  catalogue  of 
these  texts,  I  doubt  not  but  that  they  would  admire 
the  collection,  be  gratified  with  the  entertainment, 
and  easily  conjecture  many  of  her  holy  frames  and 
tempers  from  them.  I  must  own,  considering  her 
tender  make  and  often  infirmities  she  exceeded  in  de- 
votion. And  I  have  thought  myself  obliged  some- 
times (in  compassion  to  her)  to  call  her  off,  and  put 


102  BENJAMIN    COLMAN. 

her  in  mind  of  God's  delighting  in  mercy  more  than 
in  sacrifice. 

How  often  has  she  lain  whole  nights  by  me  mourn- 
ing for  sin,  calling  upon  God,  and  praising  him,  or 
discoursing  of  Christ  and  heaven  !  And  when  under 
doubts  entreating  me  to  help  her  (as  far  as  I  could) 
to  a  full  assurance  of  God's  love.  Sometimes  she 
would  say,  "  Well,  I  am  content  if  you  will  show 
me  that  I  have  the  truth  of  grace."  And  I  often 
satisfied  her  with  one  of  Mr.  Baxter's  marks  of  love 
to  Christ,  namely,  lamenting  and  pant  big  after  him  ; 
for  this  kind  of  love  she  was  sure  she  exercised  in  the 
most  cloudy  hours  of  her  life. 

I  may  not  forget  to  mention  the  strong  and  con- 
stant guard  she  placed  on  the  door  of  her  lips.  Who 
ever  heard  her  call  an  ill  name  ?  or  detract  from 
anybody  ?  When  she  apprehended  she  received 
injuries,  silence  and  tears  were  her  highest  resentments. 
But  I  have  often  heard  her  reprove  others  for  rash 
and  angry  speeches. 

In  every  relation  she  sustained,  she  was  truly  ex- 
emplary, sensible  how  much  of  the  life  and  power  of 
religion  consists  in  the  conscientious  practice  and  per- 
formance of  relative  duties. 

No  child  had  a  greater  love  to  and  reverence  for  her 
parents  ;  she  even  exceeded  in  fear  and  reverence  of 
her  father,  notwithstanding  all  his  condescensions  to 
her,  and  vast  freedoms  with  her. 
.  As  a  wife  she  was  dutiful,  prudent  and  diligent, 
not  only  content  but  joyful  in  her  circumstances. 
She  submitted  as  is  fit  in  the  Lord,  looked  well  to  the 
ways  of  her  household t  and  her  own  works  praise  her 
in  the  gates. 


LIFE   OF   MRS.   JANE   TURELL.        103 

Her  very  apparel  discovered  modesty  and  chastity. 
She  loved  to  appear  neat  and  clean,  but  never  gay 
and  fine. 

To  her  servants  she  was  good  and  kind,  and  took 
care  of  them,  especially  of  the  soul  of  a  slave  who 
died  (in  the  house)  about  a  month  before  her. 

She  respected  all  her  friends  and  relatives,  and 
spake  of  them  with  honor,  and  never  forgot  either 
their  counsels  or  their  kindnesses. 

She  often  spake  of  her  obligations  to  her  Aunt 
Staniford,  which  were  great  living  and  dying. 

She  honored  all  men  and  loved  everybody.  *<  Love 
and  goodness  was  natural  to  her,"  as  her  father  ex- 
presses it  in  a  letter  years  ago. 

Her  tender  love  to  her  only  sister,  has  been  already 
seen  ;  and  was  on  all  occasions  manifested,  and  grew 
exceedingly  to  her  death.  A  few  days  before  it,  I 
heard  her  speak  to  her  particularly  of  preparing  for 
another  world.  "  Improve  (said  she)  the  time  of 
health,  'tis  the  only  time  for  doing  the  great  work 
in." 

And  in  return  for  her  love  and  amiable  carriage, 
she  had  the  love  and  esteem  of  all  that  knew  her. 
Those  that  knew  her  best  loved  her  best,  and  praise 
her  most. 

Her  humility  was  so  great,  that  she  could  well 
bear  (without  being  elated)  such  praises  as  are  often 
found  in  her  father's  letters  to  us,  viz  :  — 

"  I  greatly  esteem  as  well  as  highly  love  you.  The 
best  of  children  deserves  all  that  a  child  can  of  a 
father.  My  soul  rejoices  in  you.  My  joy,  my 
crown.  I  give  thanks  to  God  for  you  daily.  I  am 
honored    in   being  the  father  of  such   a   daughter." 


104  BENJAMIN   COLMAN. 

Her  husband  also,  and  he  praiseth  her  as  a  meet  help 
both  in  spirituals  and  temporals. 

Her  relations  and  acquaintance  ever  manifested  the 
highest  value  for  her. 

The  people,  among  whom  she  lived  the  last  eight 
years  of  her  life,  both  old  anU  young,  had  a  love  and 
veneration  for  her,  as  a  person  of  the  strictest  virtue 
and  undefiled  religion.  Her  innocence,  modesty, 
ingenuity,  and  devotion  charmed  all  into  an  admiration 
of  her.  And  I  question  whether  there  has  been  more 
grief  and  sorrow  shown  at  the  death  of  any  private 
person,  by  people  of  all  ranks,  to  whom  her  virtues 
were  known  ;  mourning,  for  the  loss  sustained  by 
ourselves,  not  for  her,  nor  as  others  who  have  no 
hope.  For  it  is  beyond  doubt  that  she  died  in  the 
Lord,  and  is  blessed. 

The  death  of  every  such  praying  Saint  is  a  frown 
upon  the  whole  land,  and  calls  upon  us  to  make  that 
prayer,  Psal.  XII.  I.  Help,  Lord,  for  the  godly 
cease  and  the  faithful  fail  from  among  the  children  of 


JOHN    SECCOMB. 

John  Seccomb,  who  has  won  an  unenviable  immor- 
tality as  a  writer  of  doggerel,  was  born  in  Medford, 
Massachusetts,  in  1708,  and  died  in  1793  in  Chester, 
Nova  Scotia,  whither  he  had  gone  in  1  763  to  be  min- 
ister to  a  Dissenting  congregation.  He  was  graduated 
from  Harvard  College  in  1728,  and  from  1733  to  1757 
ministered  to  the  Congregational  Church  in  the  town 
of  Harvard,  Massachusetts.  He  achieved  great  noto- 
riety, while  still  connected  with  his  Alma  Mater,  by 
his  Father  Abbetf  s  Will,  &  coarsely  humorous  poem, 
the  subject  of  which  was  Matthew  Abdy,  who  held 
some  menial  position  in  connection  with  the  College. 
This  effusion  for  some  inexplicable  reason  so  pleased 
Governor  Belcher  that  he  sent  it  to  England,  where  it 
was  printed  in  The  Gentleman* s  Magazine  for  1732 
and  in  The  London  Magazine  of  the  same  year. 
Perhaps  not  a  little  of  the  subsequent  British  depre- 
ciation of  American  literature  was  due  to  the  belief 
that  Seccomb' s  doggerel  fairly  represented  the  latter. 
Fortunately  Seccomb,  after  writing  a  companion  skit, 
lapsed  into  comparative  silence  when  he  had  won  his 
laurels.  His  poem  (j/V)  is  given  here  for  illustrative 
purposes  only.  Those  who  wish  to  know  more  about 
it  maybe  referred  to  the  edition  of  1854,  undertaken 
by  the  antiquarian  John  Langdon  Sibley,  well-known 
as  the  Librarian  of  Harvard,  and  a  devoted  student  of 
its  annals. 

105 


106  JOHN    SECCOMB. 


FATHER   ABBEY'S   WILL. 

Cambridge,  December,  1730. 
Some  time  since  died  here,  Mr.  Matthew  Abbey,  in  a  very 
advanced  age  :  He  had  for  a  great  number  of  years  served  the 
College  in  quality  of  Bedmaker  and  Sweeper  :  Having  no  child, 
his  wife  inherits  his  whole  estate  which  he  bequeathed  to  her  by 
his  last  will  and  testament,  as  follows,  viz. :  — 

To  my  dear  wife, 

My  joy  and  life 
I  freely  now  do  give  her 

My  whole  estate, 

With  all  my  plate, 
Being  just  about  to  leave  her. 

My  tub  of  soap, 

A  long  cart  rope, 
A  frying  pan  and  kettle, 

An  ashes  pail, 

A  threshing  flail, 
An  iron  wedge  and  beetle. 

Two  painted  chairs, 

Nine  warden  pears, 
A  large  old  dripping  platter, 

This  bed  of  hay, 

On  which  I  lay, 
An  old  sauce  pan  for  butter. 

A  little  mug, 
A  two-quart  jug, 
A  bottle  full  of  brandy, 


FATHER   ABBEY'S    WILL.  107 

A  looking-glass, 
To  see  your  face 
You'll  find  it  very  handy. 

A  musket  true 

As  ever  flew, 
A  pound  of  shot  and  wallet, 

A  leather  sash, 

My  calabash, 
My  powder  horn  and  bullet. 

An  old  sword  blade, 

A  garden  spade, 
A  hoe,  a  rake,  a  ladder, 

A  wooden  can, 

A  close-stool  pan, 
A  clyster-pipe  and  bladder. 

A  greasy  hat, 

My  old  ram  cat, 
A  yard  and  half  of  linen, 

A  woollen  fleece, 

A  pot  of  grease, 
In  order  for  your  spinning. 

A  small  tooth  comb, 

An  ashen  broom, 
A  candlestick  and  hatchet, 

A  coverlid 

Striped  down  with  red, 
A  bag  of  rags  to  patch  it. 


108  JOHN    SECCOMB. 

A  ragged  mat, 

A  tub  of  fat, 
A  book  put  out  by  Bunyan, 

Another  book 

By  Robin  Cook, 
A  skein  or  two  of  spunyarn. 

An  old  black  muff, 
Some  garden  stuff, 

A  quantity  of  borage, 
Some  devil's  weed 
And  burdock  seed, 

To  season  well  your  porridge. 


A  chafing  dish, 
With  one  salt  fish, 

If  I  am  not  mistaken, 
A  leg  of  pork, 
A  broken  fork, 

And  half  a  flitch  of  bacon. 


A  spinning  wheel, 

One  peck  of  meal, 
A  knife  without  a  handle, 

A  rusty  lamp, 

Two  quarts  of  samp, 
And  half  a  tallow  candle. 


My  pouch  and  pipes, 
Two  oxen  tripes, 
An  oaken  dish  well  carved, 


FATHER   ABBEY'S   WILL.  IO9 

My  little  dog 
And  spotted  hog, 
With  two  young  pigs  just  starved. 

This  is  my  store, 

I  have  no  more, 
I  heartily  do  give  it, 

My  years  are  spun, 

My  days  are  done, 
And  so  I  think  to  leave  it. 

Thus  Father  Abbey  left  his  spouse, 
As  rich  as  church  or  college  mouse, 
Which  is  sufficient  invitation 
To  serve  the  college  in  his  station. 


PATRICK  TAILFER. 

Patrick  Tailfer,  who  appears  to  deserve  the 
credit,  whatever  it  may  be,  of  being  the  main  author 
of  the  remarkable  tract  soon  to  be  mentioned, 
seems  to  have  been  a  physician  by  profession.  The 
date  and  place  of  his  birth  are  uncertain,  as  is  also 
the  exact  time  of  his  emigration  to  Georgia,  whence, 
becoming  dissatisfied  with  the  conduct  of  affairs,  he 
went,  in  1 740,  to  Charleston,  South  Carolina. 
There  he  printed  in  the  following  year,  with  the 
cooperation  of  Hugh  Anderson,  David  Douglas,  and 
others,  A  True  and  Historical  Narrative  of  the  Col- 
ony of  Georgia  in  America  from  the  First  Settlement 
thereof  until  the  Present  Period.  This  masterpiece  of 
irony  was  reprinted  the  same  year  in  London,  and  can 
be  found  by  the  curious  in  Force's  Historical  Tracts. 
It  is  a  bitter  accusation  of  selfishness,  greed,  and  despot- 
ism brought  against  General  Oglethorpe,  whom  even 
Pope  had  praised,  as  merciless  as  it  is  contemptuously 
polite  and  coolly  mordant.  It  is  perhaps  the  most 
finished  product  of  colonial  polemics,  though  it  is 
certainly  malicious,  and  probably  unjust  in  most  par- 
ticulars. 


AN    IRONICAL   DEDICATION.  Ill 


AN    IRONICAL    DEDICATION. 

[From   "  A  True  and   Historical   Narrative  of 

the    Colony    of    Georgia,"    etc.       Charleston, 

S.C,  1741.] 

To  His  Excellency 

JAMES  OGLETHORPE,  ESQ. 

General  and  Commander  in  Chief  of  his  Majesty's 
Forces  in  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  ;  and 
one  of  the  honorable  Trustees  for  establishing  the 
colony  of  Georgia  in  America. 

May  it  please  your  Excellency, 

As  the  few  surviving  remains  of  the  colony  of 
Georgia  find  it  necessary  to  present  the  world  (and 
in  particular  Great  Britain)  with  a  true  state  of  that 
province,  from  its  first  rise  to  its  present  period,  your 
Excellency  (of  all  mankind)  is  best  entitled  to  the 
dedication,  as  the  principal  author  of  its  present 
strength  and  affluence,  freedom  and  prosperity  :  and 
though  incontestible  truths  will  recommend  the  fol- 
lowing Narrative  to  the  patient  and  attentive 
reader,  yet  your  name,  Sir,  will  be  no  little  ornament 
to  the  frontispiece,  and  may  possibly  engage  some 
courteous  perusers  a  little  beyond  it. 

That  dedication  and  flattery  are  synonymous  is  the 
complaint  of  every  dedicator  who  concludes  himself 
ingenuous  and  fortunate,  if  he  can  discover  a  less 
trite  and  direct  method  of  flattering  than  is  usually 


112  PATRICK   TAILFER. 

practised  ;  but  we  are  happily  prevented  from  the 
least  intention  of  this  kind  by  the  repeated  offerings 
of  the  Muses  and  News-Writers  to  your  Excellency 
in  the  public  papers.  'Twere  presumptuous  even  to 
dream  of  equalling  or  increasing  them  ;  we  therefore 
flatter  ourselves  that  nothing  we  can  advance  will  in 
the  least  shock  your  Excellency's  modesty,  not  doubt- 
ing but  your  goodness  will  pardon  any  deficiency  of 
elegance  and  politeness  on  account  of  our  sincerity 
and  the  serious  truth  we  have  the  honor  to  approach 
you  with. 

We  have  seen  the  ancient  custom  of  sending  forth 
colonies,  for  the  improvement  of  any  distant  territory 
or  new  acquisition,  continued  down  to  ourselves  ;  but 
to  your  Excellency  alone  it  is  owing  that  the  world 
is  made  acquainted  with  a  plan  highly  refined  from 
all  those  of  former  projectors.  They  fondly  imagined 
it  necessary  to  communicate  to  such  young  settle- 
ments the  fullest  rights  and  properties,  all  the  im- 
munities of  their  mother  countries,  and  privileges 
rather  more  extensive.  By  such  means,  indeed, 
these  colonies  flourished  with  early  trade  and  afflu- 
ence ;  but  your  Excellency's  concern  for  our  perpetual 
welfare  could  never  permit  you  to  propose  such  transi- 
tory advantages  for  us.  You  considered  riches,  like 
a  divine  philosopher,  as  the  irritamenta  malorum 
and  knew  that  they  were  disposed  to  inflate  weak 
minds  with  pride,  to  pamper  the  body  with  luxury, 
and  introduce  a  long  variety  of  evils.  Thus  have  you 
protected  us  from  ourselves,  as  Mr.  Waller  says,  by 
keeping  all  earthly  comforts  from  us.  You  have 
afforded  us  the  opportunity  of  arriving  at  the  integrity 
of  the  primitive  times  by  entailing  a  more  than  primi- 


AN    IRONICAL   DEDICATION.  113 

tive  poverty  on  us.  The  toil  that  is  necessary  to 
our  bare  subsistence  most  effectually  defends  us  from 
the  anxieties  of  any  further  ambition.  As  we  have 
no  properties  to  feed  vain  glory  and  beget  contention, 
so  we  are  not  puzzled  with  any  system  of  laws  to 
ascertain  and  establish  them.  The  valuable  virtue  of 
humility  is  secured  to  us  by  your  care  to  prevent  our 
procuring  or  so  much  as  seeing  any  Negroes  (the 
only  human  creatures  proper  to  improve  our  soil)  lest 
our  simplicity  might  mistake  the  poor  Africans  for 
greater  slaves  than  ourselves.  And  that  we  might 
fully  receive  the  spiritual  benefit  of  those  wholesome 
austerities,  you  have  wisely  denied  us  the  use  of  such 
spirituous  liquors  as  might  in  the  least  divert  our 
minds  from  the  contemplation  of  our  happy  circum- 
stances. 

Our  subject  swells  upon  us,  and  did  we  allow  our- 
selves to  indulge  our  inclination,  without  considering 
our  weak  abilities,  we  should  be  tempted  to  launch 
out  into  many  of  your  Excellency's  extraordinary 
endowments,  which  do  not  so  much  regard  the  affair 
in  hand.  But,  as  this  would  lead  us  beyond  the 
bounds  of  a  Dedication,  so  would  it  engross  a  subject 
too  extensive  for  us  to  the  prejudice  of  other  authors 
and  panegyrists.  We  shall  therefore  confine  ourselves 
to  that  remarkable  Scene  of  your  Conduct,  whereby 
Great  Britain  in  general,  and  the  Settlers  of  Georgia 
in  particular,  are  laid  under  such  inexpressible  obliga- 
tions. 

Be  pleased  then,  Great  Sir,  To  accompany  our 
heated  imaginations  in  taking  a  view  of  this  colony  of 
Georgia  !  This  child  of  your  auspicious  politics  ! 
arrived  at  the  utmost  vigor  of  its  constitution,  at  a  term 


114  PATRICK   TAILFER. 

when  most  former  states  have  been  struggling  through 
the  convulsions  of  their  infancy.  This  early  maturity, 
however,  lessens  our  admiration  that  your  Excel- 
lency lives  to  see  (what  few  founders  ever  aspire 
after)  the  great  decline  and  almost  final  termination  of 
it.  So  many  have  finished  their  course  during  the 
progress  of  the  experiment,  and  such  numbers  have 
retreated  from  the  phantoms  of  poverty  and  slavery 
which  their  cowardly  imaginations  pictured  to  them  ; 
that  you  may  justly  vaunt  with  the  boldest  hero  of 

them  all, 

Like  death  you  reign, 
O'er  silent  Subjects  and  a  desert  Plain. 

— Busiris. 

Yet  must  your  enemies  (if  you  have  any)  be  re- 
duced to  confess,  that  no  ordinary  statesman  could 
have  digested  in  the  like  manner,  so  capacious  a  scheme, 
such  a  copious  jumble  of  power  and  politics.  We 
shall  content  ourselves  with  observing,  that  all  those 
beauteous  models  of  government  which  the  little 
states  of  Germany  exercise,  and  those  extensive 
liberties  which  the  Boors  of  Poland  enjoy,  were 
designed  to  concenter  in  your  system  ;  and  were  we 
to  regard  the  modes  of  government,  we  must  have 
been  strangely  unlucky  to  have  missed  of  the  best, 
where  there  was  the  appearance  of  so  great  a  variety  ; 
for  under  the  influence  of  our  Perpetual  Dictator,  we 
have  seen  something  like  Aristocracy,  Oligarchy,  as 
well  as  the  Triumvirate,  Decemvirate  and  Consular 
Authority  of  famous  Republics,  which  have  expired 
many  ages  before  us  :  What  wonder  then  we  share 
the  same  fate  ?  Do  their  towns  and  villages  exist  but 
in  story  and  rubbish  ?      We  are  all  over  ruins  ;  our 


AN    IRONICAL    DEDICATION.  115 

public- works,  forts,  wells,  high-ways,  light-houses, 
store  and  water-mills,  &c,  are  dignified  like  theirs, 
with  the  same  venerable  desolation.  The  log-house 
indeed,  is  like  to  be  the  last  forsaken  spot  of  your 
empire  ;  yet  even  this,  thro'  the  death  or  desertion 
of  those  who  should  continue  to  inhabit  it,  must 
suddenly  decay  ;  the  bankrupt  jailor  himself  shall  be 
soon  denied  the  privilege  of  human  conversation  ;  and 
when  this  last  moment  of  the  spell  expires,  the  whole 
shall  vanish  like  the  illusion  of  some  Eastern  Magician. 

But  let  not  this  solitary  prospect  impress  your  Excel- 
lency with  any  fears  of  having  your  services  to  man- 
kind, and  to  the  Settlers  of  Georgia  in  particular, 
buried  in  oblivion  ;  for  if  we,  diminutive  authors,  are 
allowed  to  prophesy  (as  you  know  poets  in  those 
cases  formerly  did)  we  may  confidently  presage,  that 
while  the  memoirs  of  America  continue  to  be  read  in 
English,  Spanish,  or  the  language  of  the  Scotch  High 
Landers,  your  Excellency's  exploits  and  epocha  will 
be  transmitted  to  posterity. 

Should  your  Excellency  apprehend  the  least  tincture 
of  flattery  in  anything  already  hinted  ;  we  may  sin- 
cerely assure  you,  we  intended  nothing  that  our  senti- 
ments did  not  very  strictly  attribute  to  your  merit  ; 
and  in  such  sentiments,  we  have  the  satisfaction  of  being 
fortified  by  all  persons  of  impartiality  and  discernment. 

But  to  trespass  no  longer  on  those  minutes,  which 
your  Excellency  may  suppose  more  significantly  em- 
ployed on  the  sequel  ;  let  it  suffice  at  present,  to 
assure  you,  that  we  are  deeply  affected  with  your 
favors  ;  and  tho'  unable  of  ourselves  properly  to 
acknowlege  them,  we  shall  embrace  every  opportunity 
of  recommending  you  to  higher   powers,   who   (we 


Il6  PATRICK   TAILFER. 

are  hopeful)  will  reward  your  Excellency  according 
to  your  merits. 

May  it  please  your  Excellency, 
Your  Excellency's 

Most  devoted  Servants, 
The  Land-Holders  of  Georgia, 
Authors  of  the  Following  Narrative. 


THE    DICTATORSHIP    OF    MR.    THOMAS 
CAUSTON,  BAILIFF  AND  STORE-KEEPER. 

[From  the  Same.] 

As  his  power  increased,  so  did  his  pride,  haughti- 
ness and  cruelty  ;  insomuch  that  he  caused  eight  free- 
holders with  an  officer,  to  attend  at  the  door  of  the 
court,  every  day  it  sat,  with  their  guns  and  bayonets, 
and  they  were  commanded,  by  his  orders,  to  rest 
their  firelocks  as  soon  as  he  appeared  ;  which  made 
people  in  some  manner  afraid  to  speak  their  minds, 
or  juries  to  act  as  their  consciences  directed  them. 
He  was  seldom  or  never  uncovered  on  the  bench, 
not  even  when  an  oath  was  administered  ;  and  being 
perfectly  intoxicated  with  power  and  pride,  he  threat- 
ened every  person  without  distinction,  rich  and  poor, 
strangers  and  inhabitants,  who  in  the  least  opposed 
his  arbitrary  proceedings,  or  claimed  their  just  rights 
and  privileges,  with  the  stocks,  whipping-post  and 
log-house,  and  many  times  put  those  threatenings 
in  execution  ;  so  that  the  Georgia  stocks,  whipping- 
post and  log-house,  soon  were  famous  in  Carolina, 
and  everywhere  else  in  America,   where    the  name 


DICTATORSHIP   OF    MR.  CAUSTON.      117 

of  the  province  was  heard  of,  and  the  very  thoughts 
of  coming  to  the  colony  became  a  terror  to  people's 
minds.  And  now  the  Province  of  Carolina,  who 
had,  in  private  and  public  donations,  given  upwards 
of  1  300  1.  sterling,  seeing  these  things,  and  how  the 
public  money  was  thrown  away,  began  to  despise 
the  colony,  and  out  of  a  regard  to  the  welfare  of 
their  fellow-creatures,  persuaded  everybody  they 
could  from  settling  in  it.  That  this  absolute  power 
might  be  exercised  without  the  least  interruption, 
the  other  magistrates  were  such,  that  they  either 
were  unable  or  incapable  to  oppose  it.  It's  true, 
in  December  1734,  Mr.  Causton  met  with  a  little 
interruption  ;  for  the  Trustees  then  sent  over  to 
Savannah  one  Mr.  Gordon,  as  chief  magistrate,  who 
being  a  person  of  a  very  winning  behavior,  affable 
and  fluent  in  speech,  soon  got  the  good-will  of  every- 
body, and  a  great  many  of  the  people  laid  their 
grievances  and  hardships  open  to  him,  which  seemed 
a  little  to  eclipse  Mr.  Causton  ;  but  he  soon  found 
out  an  expedient  to  remove  this  adversary,  viz.  by 
refusing  him  provisions  from  the  store,  which  in  a 
little  time  rendered  him  incapable  to  support  himself 
and  family,  whereby  he  was  obliged,  after  about 
six  weeks  stay,  to  leave  the  place,  in  order,  as  he 
said,  to  represent  our  grievances  to  the  Trustees,  and 
soon  after  returned  to  London  ;  but  he  did  not  per- 
form his  promise,  for  what  reason  we  sha'n't  pretend 
to  determine  ;  and  some  time  thereafter  he  either 
resigned  or  was  dismissed  from  his  office  of  first 
bailiff,  and  Mr.  Causton  was  appointed  in  his  stead. 
As  to  Mr.  Henry  Parker,  who  was  appointed  third 
bailiff   when   Mr.    Gordon  came  over,   he    was,   in 


Il8  PATRICK    TAILFER. 

the  first  place,  a  man  who  had  nothing  to  support 
himself  and  large  family  but  his  day-labor,  which 
was  sawing,  and  consequently  as  soon  as  his  time 
was  otherwise  employed,  he  must  be  entirely  depend- 
ent on  the  store  for  his  subsistence  :  In  the  second 
place,  he  was  a  man  of  no  education  ;  so  that  Mr. 
Causton  soon  moulded  him  to  his  own  liking,  and 
infused  into  him  what  notions  he  pleased  :  Thirdly, 
he  was  and  is  an  absolute  slave  to  liquor,  and  he 
who  plies  him  most  with  it  (which  Causton  always 
took  care  to  do,  and  whose  example  has  been  since 
followed  by  his  successor  Jones)  has  him,  right  or 
wrong,  on  his  side.  As  to  Mr.  Christie,  the  Re- 
corder, he  was  easily  over-ruled  by  the  other  two  ; 
and  the  same  practice  was  always  continued  ;  for  he 
who  was  appointed  third  bailiff  after  Gordon's  dis- 
mission or  resignation,  was  one  Darn,  nigh  seventy 
years  of  age,  crazed  both  in  body  and  mind,  who 
died  not  long  after  his  appointment  ;  and  his  successor 
R.  Gilbert,  could  neither  read  nor  write;  so  that  Causton 
had  never  after  Gordon's  departure,  any  opposition  made 
by  the  other  magistrates  to  his  arbitrary  proceedings. 
If  we  should  allow  ourselves  to  enter  into  a  detail  of 
the  particular  instances  of  such  proceedings,  we  should 
exceed  much  our  proposed  bounds  :  We  shall  there- 
fore confine  ourselves  to  two  only,  which  may  serve 
as  a  specimen  of  the  many  others.  ONE  is,  that 
of  Capt.  Joseph  Watson  :  This  person  having  in- 
curred Mr.  Causton' s  displeasure,  was  indicted  for 
stirring  up  animosities  in  the  minds  of  the  Indians, 
&c.  tending  to  the  ruin  and  subversion  of  the  colony. 
Upon  his  trial,  the  jury  in  their  verdict,  found  him 
only  guilty  of  some  unguarded   expressions,  (altho' 


DICTATORSHIP   OF    MR.  CAUSTON.     119 

twice  returned  and  hectored  by  Mr.  Causton,  who 
acted  both  as  witness  and  judge  in  the  matter)  and 
verbally  recommended  him  by  their  fore-man  to  the 
mercy  of  the  court,  imagining  or  supposing  he  might 
be  lunatic  ;  (however,  as  it  afterwards  appeared,  it 
was  represented  to  the  Trustees  that  the  jury  found 
him  guilty  of  lunacy  in  their  verdict)  whereupon 
he  was  immediately  confined  by  Mr.  Causton,  (altho' 
sufficient  bail  was  offered)  and  kept  prisoner  near 
three  years,  without  any  sentence.  But,  as  we  are 
informed  this  affair  now  lies  before  a  proper  judicature, 
we  shall  say  no  more  of  it. 

The  other  instance  is  that  of  Mr.  Odingsell,  who 
was  an  inhabitant  of  Carolina,  and  had  been  a  great 
benefactor  to  the  infant  colony  of  Georgia,  having 
given  several  head  of  cattle  and  other  valuable  con- 
tributions, towards  the  promoting  it.  This  person 
having  come  to  Savannah  to  see  how  the  colony  suc- 
ceeded, after  he  had  been  there  a  few  days,  being 
abroad  sometime  after  it  was  night,  as  he  was  going 
to  his  lodgings  was  taken  up  in  the  street  for  a 
stroller,  carried  to  the  guard-house,  and  threatened 
with  the  stocks  and  whipping-post  ;  the  terror  and 
fright  of  which  (he  being  a  mild  and  peaceable  man) 
threw  him  into  a  high  fever  with  a  strong  delirium, 
crying  out  to  every  person  who  came  near  him, 
that  they  were  come  to  carry  him  to  the  whipping-post; 
and  after  lying  two  or  three  days  in  this  distracted 
condition,  he  was  carried  aboard  his  boat  in  order 
to  be  sent  home,  and  died  in  the  way  somewhere 
about  Dawfuskee  Sound. 


THOMAS    PRINCE. 

Thomas  Prince,  one  of  the  most  learned  and  ac- 
curate of  colonial  historians,  was  born  in  Sandwich, 
Massachusetts,  May  15,  1687,  and  died  in  Boston, 
October  22,  1758.  After  his  graduation  at  Har- 
vard in  the  class  of  1707,  he  visited  the  West  Indies, 
Madeira,  and  England,  remaining  in  the  mother  coun- 
try from  1709  to  17  1  7,  doing  occasional  preaching. 
On  his  return  to  Boston  he  was  ordained  co-pastor 
of  the  Old  South  Church,  and  was  connected  with 
that  congregation  till  his  death.  He  attained  consid- 
erable eminence  as  a  preacher,  but  still  more  as  a 
scholar.  Already,  while  in  college,  he  had  begun 
to  collect  historical  colonial  manuscripts  and  the  writ- 
ings of  New  England  divines.  These  collections, 
the  basis  of  his  own  most  important  book,  were  de- 
posited in  the  Old  South  Church,  and  destroyed  in 
part  by  fire  in  1775.  What  remains  may  be  con- 
sulted in  the  Boston  Public  Library.  It  is  needless 
to  give  a  complete  list  of  his  numerous  publications, 
which  consist  of  many  sermons,  some  editions  of  his- 
torical tracts,  notes  on  earthquakes  and  other  phe- 
nomena of  nature,  and  his  Chronological  History  of 
New  England — a  laborious  compilation  of  great 
value,  the  first  volume  of  which  was  issued  in  1736, 
but  was  not  warmly  enough  received  to  encourage 
its  author  to  continue  the  work  until  nearly  twenty 


THE  ANNALS  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.   121 

years  had  elapsed.  Then  only  three  instalments  of 
the  second  volume  were  published.  Scholars  have 
found  these  annals  very  valuable,  and  have  wished 
that  Prince  and  his  contemporary,  Stith,  could  have 
brought  their  work  down  to  their  own  times. 

ITEMS  FROM   THE   CONTINUATION   OF 

THE     ANNALS     OF     NEW     ENGLAND. 

1755. 

Advertisement. 

Having  brought  our  Annals  of  New-England  down 
to  the  Settlement  of  the  Massachusetts  Colony,  in 
the  istvolumn;  and  having  lately  received  a  most 
authentic  and  valuable  Journal  of  Events  relating  to 
said  colony,  — from  the  time  when  their  1st  Gov. 
Winthrop,  Dep.  Gov.  Dudley,  eleven  Assistants, 
with  their  Charter,  four  ministers,  &  about  1 500 
people  were  waiting  at  the  Isle  of  Wight  &  other 
places  in  the  South  and  West  of  England,  to  sail  for 
this  desired  land  ;  viz.  from  Monday,  March  29. 
1630,  to  Jan.  11.  1648,  9:  Wherein  are  many 
remarkables  not  to  be  found  any  where  else  ;  and 
whereby  alone  we  are  enabled  to  correct  many  mis- 
takes and  ascertain  the  dates  of  many  articles  in  others  : 
—  all  wrote  with  the  said  Gov.  Winthrop's  own 
hand,  who  deceased  in  the  very  house  I  dwell  in, 
the  26th  of  March  after  :  I  may  now  proceed  with 
a  further  enlargement  of  intelligence,  and  with  a 
greater  certainty  and  exactness. 

And  for  my  readers'  greater  satisfaction  I  shall  also 
go  on,  as  I  did  before,  to  give  them,  not  my  own 


122  THOMAS    PRINCE. 

expressions,  but  those  of  the  authors  who  lived  in 
the  times  they  wrote  of;  excepting  now  and  then  a 
word  or  note  of  mine  for  explanation  sake,  distin- 
guished from  theirs  by  being  enclosed  in  such  marks 
as  [These] .  So  that  we  may  as  it  were  hear 
those  eminent  persons,  Gov.  Bradford,  Gov.  Wins- 
low,  Gov.  Winthrop,  Mr.  Secretary  Morton  of  Ply- 
mouth ;  Gov.  Bradstreet,  Mr.  Secretary  Nowell,  &c. 
in  the  Massachusetts  Colony  records  ;  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Hubbard,  and  others,  telling  us  the  remarkable  events 
of  the  times  they  lived  in. 

But  as  I  was  unhappily  obliged  to  close  the  former 
volumn  abruptly  in  September  1630,  about  2  months 
after  our  entering  the  2d  Section  of  the  iid  Part  ;  I 
must  refer  to  that,  and  begin  the  iid  Volumn  with 
September  28,  in  continuation  of  the 

2D  Section 

Containing  Articles  from  the  begining  of  the  Set- 
tlement of  the  Massachusetts  or  2d  Colony,  to  the 
Settlement  of  the  7th  and  last,  by  the  combination 
of  41  persons  into  a  form  of  Government  at  Pisca- 
taqua,  on  Oct.  22.  1640,  afterwards  called  the 
Province   of  New-Hampshire. 

[Oct.  1630.]  The  first  execution  in  Plymouth 
Colony  :  which  is  a  matter  of  great  sadness  to  us, 
is  of  one  John  Billington  ;  for  waylaying  and  shoot- 
ing John  Newcomen,  a  young  man,  in  the  shoulder, 
whereof  he  died.  The  said  Billington  was  one  of 
the  profanest  among  us.  He  came  from  London 
and  I  know  not  by  what  friends  shuffled  into  our 
Company.      We  used  all  due  means  about  his  trial  : 


THE  ANNALS  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.   1 23 

was  found  guilty  both  by  grand  and  petty  jury  ;  and 
we  took  the  advice  of  Mr.  Winthrop  and  others,  the 
ablest  gentlemen  in  the  Massachusetts  Bay,  who  all 
concured  with  us  that  he  ought  to  die  and  the  land 
be  purged  from  blood.  —  [Taken  from  Bradford.] 

[Jan.  3d  163 1.]  Dies  [at  Boston]  the  daughter 
of  Mr.  Sharp  [I  suppose  Thomas  Sharp  Esq.  one 
of  the  Assistants]  a  godly  virgin,  making  a  comfort- 
able end  after  a  long  sickness.  The  Plantation  here 
[i.e.  I  suppose  at  Boston]  received  not  the  like  loss 
of  any  woman  since  we  came  hither  ;  and  therefore 
she  well  deserves  to  be  remembered  in  this  place. 
And  among  those  who  died  [at  Boston]  about  the 
end  of  Jan.  was  the  daughter  of  John  Ruggles,  a  girl 
of  eleven  years  old,  who  in  the  time  of  her  sickness 
expressed  to  the  minister  and  those  about  her  so  much 
faith  and  assurance  of  salvation  as  is  rarely  found  in  any 
of  that  age  ;  Which  I  thought  not  unworthy  here  to 
commit  to  memory.  And  if  any  tax  me  with  wast- 
ing paper  with  recording  these  small  matters,  such 
may  consider  that  small  things  in  the  beginning  of 
politic  bodies  are  as  remarkable  as  greater  in  bodies 
full  grown.  —  [From  Gov.  Dudley.] 

[1632.]  This  year,  the  General  Court  of  Pc 
[Plymouth  Colony]  make  an  extraordinary  Act ;  That 
whoever  refuses  the  Office  of  Governor,  shall  pay 
jQio  Sterling,  unless  he  were  chose  two  years  going ; 
and  whoever  refuses  the  Office  of  Counsellor  or  Mag- 
istrate, ^10  Sterling.  —  [From  a  manuscript  letter.] 

[1633.]  This  spring,  or  especially  all  the  month 
of  May,  there  are  such  [numbers]  of  a  great  sort  of 


124  THOMAS    PRINCE. 

flies,  like  for  bigness  to  bumble-bees,  which  come 
out  of  holes  in  the  ground  [in  Pc]  replenish  all  the 
wood,  eat  the  green  things,  and  make  such  a  con- 
stant yelling  noise  as  all  the  woods  ring  of  them  and 
[deafens]  the  hearers.  The  Indians  tell  us  that  sick- 
ness will  follow  :  and  so  it  [proves]  in  June,  July  and 
August.  They  have  not  by  the  English  been  heard 
or  seen  before  or  since  [i.e.  to  the  beginning  of  1647, 
when  Gov.  Bradford  ends  his  History  :  but  have  in 
like  manner  at  distant  periods  risen  up  since,  and  are 
known  by  the  name  of  Locusts], 


WILLIAM    DOUGLASS. 

William  Douglass  was  a  Scotchman  who  came 
to  America  in  1716  when  he  was  about  twenty- 
five  years  of  age.  Two  years  later  he  settled  in 
Boston,  where  he  attained  great  reputation  as  a  phy- 
sician and  savant.  His  influence  was  lessened,  how- 
ever, by  the  free  way  in  which  he  expressed  rather 
unorthodox  religious  views,  and  conducted  political 
and  scientific  controversies.  He  was  really  a  partisan 
journalist,  and  it  is  because  he  showed  great  ability  in 
his  fulminations  against  persons  and  things  he  did  not 
like,  that  his  Summary,  or  Historical  Account  of  the 
British  Settlements  (1 747-1 753)  is  interesting,  es- 
pecially for  its  juicy  footnotes,  to  the  general  reader, 
and  valuable,  in  spite  of  its  prejudices  and  inaccuracies, 
to  the  historical  student.  His  medical  writings  do 
not  concern  us ;  but  it  is  worth  noting  that  he  printed 
a  good  almanac,  and  that  through  his  benefactions  he 
was  accorded  the  honor  of  having  a  town  in  Worcester 
County  named  after  him.  He  died  in  his  adopted 
home,  October  21,  1752,  and  in  him  the  New  World 
lost  a  most  picturesque  and  useful  citizen  who,  if  he 
did  oppose  inoculation  for  small-pox,  nevertheless 
anathematized  the  craze  for  paper  money  in  a  most 
effective  style. 


125 


126  WILLIAM    DOUGLASS. 


THE    BUCCANEERS. 

[From  '«  A  Summary,  Historical  and  Political,' ' 
etc,  1747.  Footnote,  Vol.  I.  p.  40,  Section 
11.  Article  ii.  Ed.  of  1755.] 

The  Buccaneers  originally  were  a  vagrant,  vicious, 
seafaring,  piratical  people,  chiefly  English  and  French. 
They  were  used  to  kill  wild  bulls  and  cows  with  long 
fusees,  called  Buccanier-pieces,  for  their  hides  and  tal- 
low ;  at  first  they  committed  depredations  only  upon 
the  Spaniards  and  Spanish  settlements  (Morgan  took 
Porto-Bello  and  Panama,  anno  1671),  and  although 
a  notorious  pirate  was  knighted  by  that  prince  of 
pleasure  and  whim,  King  Charles  ii,  but  afterwards 
was  a  disgrace.  They  carried  on  this  Bellum  Pira- 
ticum  against  the  Spaniards  in  the  West-Indies  from 
anno  1666  to  anno  1688,  mad-man  like,  for  small 
booty,  and  that  soon  consumed ;  they  suffered  the 
greatest  fatigues,  hunger  and  risk  of  life.  They  first 
formed  themselves  upon  a  small  island  called  Tortugas, 
north  of  Hispaniola  (all  islands  where  tortoise  or  turtle 
frequent,  are  by  the  Spaniards  called  Tortugas ;  that 
island  near  the  Margaritas  upon  the  coast  of  New- 
Spain,  from  whence  by  a  Spanish  treaty  at  Madrid, 
anno  17  16,  New-England  brings  salt  for  their  fishery, 
is  called  Salt-Tortugas)  as  also  upon  the  N.W.  parts 
of  Hispaniola  ;  the  court  of  France  sent  them  over  a 
governor,  and  colonized  them  ;  this  is  the  original  of 
the  French  rich  settlements  there;  it  is  true,  when 
the  French  had  the  Spanish  Assiento  contract  for 
negroes,  Spain  consented  to  their  having  a  lodge  and 


THE    BUCCANEERS.  1 27 

place  of  refreshment  there ;  by  their  usual  way  of  en- 
croaching upon  their  neighbors,  they  are  now  become 
superior  to  the  Spanish  of  Hispaniola. 


A    SPICY    FOOTNOTE    ON    BISHOP 
BERKELEY. 

[From  the  Same,  Footnote,  Vol.  I.  p.  149.] 

This  notion  of  a  healthful    climate,  gave  occasion 
to  a  late  scheme  projected  by  a  whimsical  man,  dean 

B ly,   since  bishop  of  Cl[oy]ne  in  Ireland,  of 

founding  in  Bermudas  an  university  college  or  semi- 
nary for  the  education  of  the  British  American  youth. 
Projectors  are  generally  inconsiderate,  rash,  and  run 
too  fast.  He  did  not  consider  that  places  for  health 
are  accommodated  for  valetudinarians  and  old  people  ; 
whereas  young  people,  where  the  stamina  vitae  are 
good,  seldom  want  health  (at  Harvard-college  in 
Cambridge  near  Boston  in  New-England,  not  ex- 
ceeding one  or  two  per  cent,  per  ann.  die)  this  place 
is  of  very  difficult  access  or  navigation  ;  does  not  pro- 
duce a  sufficiency  for  the  present  parsimonious  inhab- 
itants. This  abstracted  notion  seems  only  adequate 
to  the  conceptions  of  a  common  school-master,  to 
keep  his  boys  together  (as  a  shepherd  does  by  folding 
of  his  sheep)  while  they  learn  to  read  English,  and 
labor  at  the  rudiments  of  the  Latin  language ;  whereas 
young  gentlemen,  students  of  the  belles-lettres,  civil 
history,  natural  history,  or  any  of  the  three  learned 
professions,  require  a  larger  field  than  that  of  a  small 
island  divulsed    (if  we  may  so   express  it)    from   the 


128  WILLIAM    DOUGLASS. 

world  or  continents  of  the  earth.  He  hired  a  ship, 
put  on  board  a  good  library  (some  part  of  it  he  bounti- 
fully bestowed  upon  the  colleges  of  Massachusetts-bay 
and  Connecticut  in  New-England)  and  in  company 
with  some  gentlemen  of  great  worth,  after  a  tedious 
winter  passage,  put  in  at  Rhode-Island,  a  small  colony 
of  New-England  ;  built  a  kind  of  a  cell,  lived  there 
a  recluse  life  for  some  time,  until  this  fit  of  enthusiasm 
did  defervesce,  and  was  convinced  of  the  idleness  of 
his  whim,  did  not  proceed,  but  returned  to  England. 
There  are  enthusiasts  in  all  affairs  of  life  ;  this  man 
of  himself  was  an  enthusiast  in  many  affairs  of  life ; 
not  confined  to  religion  and  the  education  of  youth ; 
he  invaded  another  of  the  learned  professions,  Medi- 
cine, which  in  a  peculiar  manner  is  called  the  learned 
profession  ;  he  published  a  book  called  Sir  is  (the  ratio 
nom'mis  I  cannot  investigate)  or  tar-water,  an  univer- 
sal medicine  or  panacea ;  he  never  knew  it  fail,  if 
copiously  administered,  of  curing  any  fever;  whereas 
many  fevers,  viz.  that  of  the  plague,  of  the  small-pox, 
with  symptoms  of  purples  and  general  haemorrhages, 
&c.  in  their  own  nature,  to  most  constitutions  from 
first  seizure  are  mortal,  by  an  universal  necrosis  or 
sudden  blast  of  the  constitution.  It  cures  the  mur- 
rain, rot,  and  all  other  malignant  distempers  amongst 
cattle,  sheep  &c.  The  continued  or  long  use  of  it 
does  violence  to  the  constitution ;  in  asthmas,  and 
rheumatic  disorder,  a  short  use  of  it  has  been  benefi- 
cial, but  our  materia  medica  affords  more  efficacious 
and  safe  medicines  ;  it  is  at  present  almost  worn  out 
of  fashion.  Tar  is  only  turpentine  by  fire  rendered 
of  a  caustic  quality  ;  whereas  turpentine  (and  conse- 
quently its  water  or  decoction)  by  the  experience  of 


FOOTNOTE  ON  BISHOP  BERKELEY.   1 29 

many  ages,  has  been  found  a  most  beneficent,  medici- 
nal, natural  balsam. 

He  ought  to  have  checked  this  officious  genius 
(unless  in  his  own  profession  way  he  had  acquired 
this  nostrum  by  inspiration)  from  intruding  into  the 
affairs  of  a  distinct  profession.  Should  a  doctor  in 
medicine  practice  public  praying  and  preaching  (though 
only  in  a  quack  or  Whitefield  vagrant  manner)  with 
pious,  private,  ghostly  advice  and  exhortations  to  his 
patients  alias  penitents,  the  clergy  would  immediately 
take  the  alarm,  and  use  their  Bruta  Fulmina  against 
this  other  profession.  This  seems  to  be  well  expressed 
in  a  London  News-paper  by  way  of  banter  or  ridicule 

The  bishop's  book  annoys  the  learned  tribe; 

They  threaten  hard,  u  We'll  preach,  if  you  prescribe." 

As  this  Bermudas  college  projection,  and  his  resi- 
dence in  New-England,  have  rendered  him  famous 
in  North-America,  perhaps  it  may  not  be  impertinent 

to  give  some  further  history  of  MR.  P ly,  in  his 

proper  character  as  a  divine  :  I  shall  take  it  from  his 
Minute  Philosopher,  a  book  composed  in  New-Eng- 
land, and  confine  it  to  his  wild  notions  of  mysteries 
in  religion.  He  says  that  from  a  certain  enthusiasm 
in  human  nature  all  religions  do  sprout :  from  the 
faith  which  children  have  in  the  directions  of  their 
parents :  from  the  great  share  that  faith  has  in  the 
policy  of  nations  (he  means  the  Arcana  Imperii)  and 
in  common  commerce  or  trade,  we  are  led  to  faith  in 
religious  revelations.  Since  we  cannot  explain  many 
obvious  things  in  nature,  why  should  we  be  obliged 
to  do  so  in  religion  ?  In  a  very  loose  expression,  he 
compares  mysteries  in  religion  to  the  enthusiastic,  and 


130  WILLIAM    DOUGLASS. 

to  demonstration  non-entities  of  the  philosopher's  stone 
in  chemistry,  and  of  perpetual  motion  in  mechanics. 
The  abstracted  idea  of  a  triangle  is  as  difficult  as  that 
of  the  Trinity  ;  that  of  the  communication  of  motion, 
as  difficult  as  that  of  the  communication  of  grace.  We 
ought  to  have  the  same  reason  for  trusting  the  priest 
in  religion,  that  we  have  for  trusting  the  lawyer  or 
physician  with  our  fortune  or  life  ;  thus  every  man 
ought  to  have  a  liberty  of  choosing  his  own  priest  and 
religion;  this  is  too  general  a  toleration,  and  puts  an 
end  to  all  social  religion. 

To   conclude,    the    right    reverend    the    bishop    of 

CI ne,    notwithstanding  of  his  peculiarities,  is  a 

most  generous,  beneficent,  and  benevolent  gentleman, 
as  appears  by  his  donations  in  New-England. 


CONCERNING  THE  GENERAL  NATURE 
AND  CONSTITUTION  OF  BRITISH 
NORTH-AMERICAN    COLONIES 

[Section   iv.    Article  11.] 

All  our  American  Settlements  are  properly  Col- 
onies, not  Provinces  as  they  are  generally  called  :  Prov- 
ince respects  a  conquered  people  (the  Spaniards  in 
Mexico  and  Peru  may  perhaps  in  propriety  bear  this 
appellation)  under  a  jurisdiction  imposed  upon  them 
by  the  conqueror  ;  Colonies  are  formed  of  national 
people  v.g.  British  in  the  British  Colonies,  trans- 
ported to  form  a  settlement  in  a  foreign  or  remote 
country. 


NORTH-AMERICAN    COLONIES.         131 

The  first  settlers  of  our  colonies,  were  formed  from 
various  sorts  of  people.  1 .  Laudably  ambitious 
adventurers.  2.  The  malecontents,  the  unfortunate, 
the  necessitous  from  home.  3.  Transported  crimi- 
nals. The  present  proportion  of  these  ingredients 
in  the  several  Plantations  varies  much,  for  reasons 
which  shall  be  mentioned  in  the  particular  sections 
of  Colonies,  and  does  depend  much  upon  the  condi- 
tion of  the  first  settlers  :  Some  were  peopled  by 
Rebel  Tories,  some  by  Rebel  Whigs  (that  principle 
which  at  one  time  is  called  royalty,  at  another  time 
is  called  rebellion)  some  by  Church  of  England-Men, 
some  by  Congregational ists  or  Independents,  some  by 
Quakers,  some  by  Papists  (Maryland  and  Monserrat) 
the  most  unfit  People  to  incorporate  with  our  con- 
stitution. 

Colonies  have  an  incidental  good  effect,  they  drain 
from  the  mother-country  the  disaffected  and  the  vicious 
(in  this  same  manner,  subsequent  colonies  purge  the 
more  ancient  colonies)  ;  Rhode-Island  and  Providence 
Plantations,  drained  from  Massachusetts-Bay,  the 
Antinomians,  Quakers,  and  other  wild  sectaries. 
Perhaps  in  after  times  (as  it  is  at  times  with  the  Lord 
Lieutenants  and  other  high  officers  in  Ireland)  some 
malecontents  of  figure,  capable  of  being  troublesome 
to  the  administration  at  home,  may  be  sent  in  some 
great  offices  to  the  Plantations. 

In  our  Colonies  we  have  four  sorts  of  people. 
1.  Masters,  that  is  planters  and  merchants.  2.  White 
Servants.  3.  Indian  Servants.  4.  Slaves  for  life, 
mostly  Negroes.  White  servants  are  of  two  sorts, 
viz.  poor  people  from  Great  Britain,  and  Ireland 
mostly,  these  are  bound  or  sold,  as  some  express  it, 


132  WILLIAM    DOUGLASS. 

for  a  certain  number  of  years,  to  reimburse  the  trans- 
porting charges,  with  some  additional  profit  ;  the 
others  are  criminals  judicially  transported,  and  their 
time  of  exile  and  servitude  sold  by  certain  under- 
takers and  their  agents. 

In  our  American  settlements,  generally  the  desig- 
nations are,  Province,  where  the  King  appoints  a 
Governor ;  Colony,  where  the  freemen  elect  their 
own  Governor  :  This  customary  acceptation  is  not 
universal  ;  Virginia  is  called  a  Colony,  perhaps  be- 
cause formerly  a  Colony,  and  the  most  ancient. 

We  have  some  Settlements  with  a  Governor  only  ; 
others  with  Governor  and  Council,  such  are  New- 
foundland, Nova-Scotia,  Hudson's  Bay,  and  Georgia, 
without  any  house  or  negative  deputed  by  the  planters, 
according  to  the  essence  of  a  British  Constitution  : 
These,  may  be  said,  not  colonized. 

There  are  various  sorts  of  Royal  Grants  of  Colonies. 
1.  To  one  or  more  personal  proprietors,  their  heirs 
and  assigns  ;  such  are  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania  ; 
both  property  and  government.  2.  The  property 
to  personal  Proprietors  ;  the  government  and  jurisdic- 
tion in  the  Crown  :  this  is  the  state  of  Carolinas  and 
Jersies.  3.  Property  and  government  in  the  Crown, 
viz.  Virginia,  New  York,  and  New-Hampshire,  com- 
monly called  Piscataqua.  4.  Property  in  the  people 
and  their  Representatives  ;  the  government  in  the 
Crown  ;  as  is  Massachusetts-Bay.  5.  Property  and 
government  in  the  Governor  and  Company,  called 
the  Freemen  of  the  Colony,  such  are  Connecticut 
and   Rhode-Island. 

This  last  seems  to  be  the  most  effectual  method  of 
the  first  settling  and  peopling  of  a  Colony  ;   Mankind 


EXTRACTS  FROM  DR.  DOUGLASS.   1 33 

are  naturally  desirous  of  parity  and  leveling,  without 
any  fixed  superiority,  but  when  a  society  is  come  to 
maturity,  a  more  distinct  fixed  subordination  is  found 
to  be  requisite.  Connecticut,  Rhode-Island,  and  some 
of  the  Proprietary  Governments,  are  of  opinion,  that 
they  are  not  obliged  to  attend  to,  or  follow  any  in- 
structions or  orders  from  their  Mother- Country  or 
Court  of  Great-Britain  ;  they  do  not  send  their  laws 
home  to  the  Plantation-Offices  to  be  presented  to  the 
King  in  Council  for  approbation  or  disallowance  : 
They  assume  the  command  of  the  militia,  which  by 
the  British  Constitution  is  a  prerogative  of  the  Crown  : 
Some  time  ago,  they  refused  not  only  a  preventive 
custom-house  office,  but  likewise  a  Court  of  Vice- 
Admiralty's  officers  appointed  from  home  ;  but  these 
points  they  have  given  up,  especially  considering  that 
the  Royal  Charter  grants  them  only  the  privilege  of 
trying  causes,  intra  corpus  comitatus,  but  not  a-float 
or  super  ahum  mare. 


EXTRACTS   FROM    DR.    DOUGLASS'S 

Numerous  Animadversations  and  Digressions  upon 
Paper   Currencies. 

From  time  to  time,  anticipating  the  affair  of  curren- 
cies referred  to  the  appendix,  may  be  excused  :  this 
pernicious  desolating  torrent,  becoming  more  and 
more  violent,  requires  a  more  speedy  resistance. 

The  colony  of  Massachusetts-Bay  was  the  leader 
of  paper  currencies  in  the  British  Plantations,  and 
have  now  at  length  carried  this  fraud  to  the  utmost 


J34 


WILLIAM    DOUGLASS. 


(even  beyond  North  Carolina  management)  if  carried 
further  the  staple  must  break,  and  the  fraud  of  the 
wicked  projectors  (in  all  affairs  there  are  limits  which 
in  the  nature  of  things  cannot  be  exceeded)  cease. 
—  [Summary,  Vol.  I.  p.  359,  note.] 

In  this  article  we  shall  have  frequent  occasion  to 
mention  money-affairs,  viz.  emissions  of  public  pro- 
vincial bills  of  credit  called  paper-money  ;  supplies  of 
the  treasury  ;  annual  taxes,  salaries,  and  other  govern- 
ment charges  ;  all  which  at  various  times  have  been 
expressed  in  various  tenors  ;  viz.  Old  tenor,  middle 
tenor,  new  tenor  first,  new  tenor  second,  which  in 
the  face  of  the  bill  is  about  twelve  per  cent,  worse  than 
new  tenor  first,  but  from  the  inaccuracy  of  our  people, 
and  an  abandoned  neglect  of  a  proper  credit,  pass 
indifferently  at  the  same  value.  —  [Vol.  I.  p.  493.] 

The  fallacious  plantation  paper-money  currencies 
are  a  most  disagreeable  topic,  and  fall  too  often  in  my 
way  :  here  I  cannot  avoid  observing,  that  the  habitual 
practice  of  this  paper-money  cheat  has  had  a  bad  in- 
fluence not  only  upon  profligate  private  persons,  but 
upon  the  administration  of  some  of  our  New  England 
governments  :  for  instance,  one  of  the  legislature,  a 
singer  of  the  Rhode-Island  colony  bills,  was  not  long 
since  convicted  of  signing  counterfeit  bills. — [Vol.  II. 
p.  87,  note.] 


WILLIAM    STITH. 

William  Stith,  distinguished  among  his  fellow- 
Virginians  as  clergyman,  educator,  and  historian,  was 
born  in  1689,  and  died  at  Williamsburg,  September 
27»  1755.  His  family  connections,  especially  with 
the  Randolphs,  assisted  him  in  the  development  of 
his  literary  and  professional  talents,  and  he  studied 
theology  and  was  ordained  in  England.  In  1 7 3  1  he 
became  master  of  the  Grammar  School  at  William 
and  Mary,  and  seven  years  later  was  chosen 
Chaplain  of  the  House  of  Burgesses.  In  1752, 
he  reaped  almost  the  sole  reward  of  his  previous 
labors  as  a  historian  by  being  elected  President  of 
the  college.  His  History  of  Virginia  from  the 
First  Settlement  to  the  Dissolution  of  the  London 
Company  appeared  at  Williamsburg  in  1747 
(new  ed.,  N.Y.,  1866),  but  he  was  apparently  not 
much  encouraged  by  the  aristocratic  planters  in  be- 
half of  whose  family  and  colonial  pride  he  had  labored 
so  diligently.  His  work  is  accurate  and  scholarly, 
but  very  diffuse,  as  Jefferson  afterward  declared. 
Yet  for  the  limited  period  it  covers,  it  is  distinctly 
valuable,  and  its  learned  author  should  be  remembered 
as  one  of  the  few  Southern  scholars  of  his  time. 


*35 


136  WILLIAM   STITH. 

A   SKETCH    OF   CAPTAIN   JOHN  SMITH. 

[From  the  "History  of  Virginia."      1747.] 

He  was  born  a  gentleman,  to  a  competent  fortune, 
at  Willoughby  in  Lincolnshire,  in  the  year  1579. 
From  his  very  childhood,  he  had  a  roving  and 
romantic  fancy,  and  was  strangely  set  upon  per- 
forming some  brave  and  adventurous  achievement. 
Accordingly,  being  about  thirteen  years  of  age  at 
school,  he  sold  his  satchel  and  books,  and  all  he 
had,  to  raise  money,  in  order  to  go  secretly  beyond 
sea.  But  his  father  dying  just  at  that  time,  he  was 
stopped  for  the  present,  and  fell  into  the  hands  of 
guardians,  more  intent  on  improving  his  estate,  than 
him.  However,  at  fifteen,  in  the  year  1594,  he  was 
bound  to  a  merchant  at  Lynne,  the  most  considerable 
trader  in  those  parts.  But  because  he  would  not  send 
him  immediately  to  sea,  he  found  means  in  the  train 
of  Mr.  Peregrine  Berty,  second  son  to  the  Lord 
Willoughby,  to  pass  into  France.  Here,  and  in  the 
Low-Countries,  he  first  learned  the  rudiments  of  war  ; 
to  which  profession  he  was  led  by  a  strong  propensity 
of  genius.  He  was  afterwards  carried  into  Scotland, 
with  delusive  hopes,  from  a  Scottish  gentleman,  of 
being  effectually  recommended  to  King  James.  But 
soon  finding  himself  baffled  in  his  expectations,  he 
returned  to  Willoughby,  his  native  place  ;  where, 
meeting  with  no  company  agreeable  to  his  way  of 
thinking,  he  retired  into  a  wood,  at  a  good  distance 
from  any  town,  and  there  built  himself  a  pavilion  of 
boughs,  and  was  wholly  employed  in  studying  some 


SKETCH    OF   CAPTAIN   JOHN    SMITH.     1 37 

treatises  of  the  art  of  war,  and  in  the  exercise  of  his 
horse  and  lance.  But  his  friends,  being  concerned  at 
such  a  whimsical  turn  of  mind,  prevailed  with  an 
Italian  gentleman,  rider  to  the  Earl  of  Lincoln,  to 
insinuate  himself  into  his  acquaintance  ;  and,  as  he 
was  an  expert  horseman,  and  his  talent  and  studies 
lay  the  same  way  with  Mr.  Smith's,  he  drew  him 
from  his  sylvan  retirement,  to  spend  some  time  with 
him  at  Tattersall. 

But  Smith's  genius  soon  hurried  him  again  into 
Flanders  ;  where,  lamenting  to  see  such  effusion  of 
Christian  blood,  he  resolved  to  try  his  fortune  against 
the  Turks.  In  order  to  this,  he  passed  through 
France,  with  variety  of  adventure  and  misfortune, 
in  which  he  always  showed  a  high  and  martial  spirit. 
At  Marseilles  he  embarked  for  Italy.  But  the  ship 
meeting  with  much  foul  weather,  a  rabble  of  pilgrims 
on  board  hourly  cursed  him  for  a  Huguenot,  railed  at 
Queen  Elizabeth  and  his  whole  nation,  and  swore  they 
should  never  have  fair  weather,  as  long  as  he  was  in 
the  ship.  At  last,  the  passions  of  these  pious  Chris- 
tians rose  so  high,  that  they  threw  him  overboard  ; 
trusting,  we  may  suppose,  in  the  merit  and  superero- 
gation of  that  holy  pilgrimage,  to  expiate  the  trifling 
offence  and  peccadillo  of  murder.  However,  Smith, 
by  the  Divine  assistance,  got  safe  to  a  small  uninhabited 
island,  against  Nice  in  Savoy.  From  thence  he  was, 
the  next  day,  taken  off  by  a  French  Rover,  who 
treated  him  very  kindly,  and  with  whom  he  therefore 
made  the  tour  of  the  whole  Mediterranean,  both  on 
the  Mahometan  and  the  Christian  coasts.  At  length, 
after  a  desperate  battle,  having  taken  a  very  rich  Vene- 
tian ship,  the  generous  Frenchman  set  him  ashore,  with 


138  WILLIAM    STITH. 

his  share  of  the  prize  :  amounting  to  five  hundred 
sequins  in  specie,  and  a  box  of  rich  commodities, 
worth  near  as  much  more.  And  now  out  of  curi- 
osity ranging  all  the  regions  and  principalities  of  Italy, 
he  at  last  went  to  Vienna,  and  entered  himself  a 
gentleman  volunteer,  in  Count  Meldritch's  regiment, 
against  the  Turk. 

He  had  not  been  long  in  the  Christian  army,  before 
he  was  distinguished  for  a  man  of  great  personal  bra- 
very ;  and  in  the  sieges  of  Olumpagh  and  Alba-Regalis, 
he  was  the  author  of  some  stratagems,  which  showed 
a  happy  talent  for  war,  and  did  signal  service  to  the 
Christian  cause.  He  was  thereupon  immediately 
advanced  to  the  command  of  a  troop  of  horse  ;  and 
was,  soon  after,  made  sergeant-major  of  the  regiment, 
a  post,  at  that  time,  next  to  the  lieutenant-colonel. 
But  Count  Meldritch,  a  Transylvanian  nobleman  by 
birth,  afterwards  passed  with  his  regiment  out  of  the 
imperial  service  into  that  of  his  natural  prince,  Sigis- 
mond  Bathori,  Duke  of  Transylvania.  And  here, 
endeavoring  to  recover  some  patrimonial  lordships, 
then  in  the  possession  of  the  Turk,  he  laid  siege  to 
a  strong  town,  chiefly  inhabited  by  renegados  and 
banditti.  Whilst  their  works  were  advancing  slowly, 
and  with  great  difficulty,  a  Turkish  officer  issued  forth 
of  the  town,  and  challenged  any  Christian,  of  the  dig- 
nity of  a  captain,  to  a  single  combat.  Many  were 
eager  of  the  honor  of  humbling  this  haughty  Mussel- 
man  ;  but  it  was  at  last  decided,  by  lot,  in  favor  of 
Captain  Smith.  Accordingly,  the  ramparts  of  the 
town  being  filled  with  fair  dames  and  men  in  arms, 
and  the  Christian  army  drawn  up  in  battalia,  thr 
combatants    entered     the    field,    well    mounted    and 


SKETCH    OF   CAPTAIN   JOHN    SMITH.      1 39 

richly  armed,  to  the  sound  of  hautboys  and  trumpets  ; 
where,  at  the  first  encounter,  Smith  bore  the  Turk 
dead  to  the  ground,  and  went  off  triumphantly  with 
his  head.  But  the  infidel  garrison  being  enraged  at 
this  he  afterwards  engaged  two  other  officers  ;  and, 
being  a  great  master  of  his  arms  and  the  management 
of  his  horse,  he  carried  off  their  heads,  in  the  same 
manner.  After  which  being  attended  with  a  guard 
of  six  thousand  men,  with  the  three  Turkish  horses 
led  before  him,  and  before  each  a  Turk's  head  upon 
a  spear,  he  was  conducted  to  the  General's  pavilion  ; 
who  received  him  with  open  arms,  and  presented  him 
with  a  fine  horse,  richly  caparisoned,  and  with  a 
scimitar  and  belt,  worth  three  hundred  ducats.  Soon 
after,  the  Duke  himself,  coming  to  view  his  army, 
gave  him  his  picture,  set  in  gold  ;  settled  three  hun- 
dred ducats  upon  him,  as  a  yearly  pension  ;  and 
issued  his  letters  patent  of  noblesse,  giving  him  three 
Turk  heads,  in  a  shield,  for  his  arms  ;  which  coat  he 
ever  afterwards  bore,  and  it  was  admitted  and  recorded 
in  the  Herald's  office  in  England,  by  Sir  William 
Segar,    Garter,   principal   King  at  Arms. 

But,  soon  after,  the  Duke  of  Transylvania  was  de- 
prived of  his  dominions  by  the  Emperor  ;  and  Smith, 
at  the  fatal  battle  of  Rottenton,  in  the  year  1602, 
was  left  upon  the  field,  among  the  dreadful  carnage 
of  Christians,  as  dead.  But  the  pillagers,  perceiving 
life  in  him,  and  judging,  by  the  richness  of  his  habit 
and  armor,  that  his  ransom  might  be  considerable, 
took  great  pains  to  recover  him.  After  that,  he  was 
publicly  sold,  among  the  other  prisoners  ;  and  was 
bought  by  a  Bashaw,  who  sent  him  to  Constantinople, 
as  a  present  to  his  mistress,  Charatza  Tragabigzanda, 


140  WILLIAM    STITH. 

a  beautiful  young  Tartarian  lady.  Smith  was  then 
twenty-three  years  of  age,  in  the  bloom  of  life,  and, 
as  it  seems,  of  a  very  handsome  person.  For  this 
young  lady  was  so  moved  with  compassion,  or  rather 
love,  for  him,  that  she  treated  him  with  the  utmost 
tenderness  and  regard.  And,  to  prevent  his  being 
ill  used  or  sold  by  her  mother,  she  sent  him  into 
Tartary,  to  her  brother,  who  was  Timor  Bashaw  of 
Nalbrits,  on  the  Palus  Moeotis.  Here  she  intended 
he  should  stay,  to  learn  the  language,  together  with 
the  manners  and  religion  of  the  Turks,  till  time  should 
make  her  mistress  of  herself. 

But  the  Bashaw,  suspecting  something  of  the  matter, 
from  the  affectionate  expressions  with  which  she  rec- 
ommended and  pressed  his  good  usage,  only  treated 
Smith  with  the  greater  cruelty  and  inhumanity.  Smith' s 
high  spirit,  raised  also  by  a  consciousness  of  Traga- 
bigzanda's  passion,  could  but  ill  brook  his  harsh  treat- 
ment. At  last,  being  one  day  threshing  alone  at  a 
grange  above  a  league  from  the  house,  the  Timor 
came,  and  took  occasion  to  kick,  spurn  and  revile 
him,  that,  forgetting  all  reason,  Smith  beat  out  his 
brains  with  his  threshing  bat.  Then  reflecting  upon 
his  desperate  state,  he  hid  the  body  under  the  straw, 
filled  his  knapsack  with  corn,  put  on  the  Timor's 
clothes,  and,  mounting  his  horse,  fled  into  the  deserts 
of  Circassia.  After  two  or  three  days'  fearful  wan- 
dering, he  happened,  providentially,  on  the  castragan, 
or  great  road,  that  leads  into  Muscovy.  Following 
this  for  sixteen  days,  with  infinite  dread  and  fatigue, 
he  at  last  arrived  at  a  Muscovite  garrison  on  the  fron- 
tiers. Here  he  was  kindly  entertained  and  presented, 
as    also   at  all  the  places  through   which  he  passed. 


SKETCH    OF   CAPTAIN   JOHN    SMITH.   •141 

Having  travelled  through  Siberia,  Muscovy,  Transyl- 
vania, and  the  midst  of  Europe,  he  at  length  found 
his  old  friend  and  gracious  patron,  the  Duke  of  Tran- 
sylvania, at  Leipsic,  together  with  Count  Meldritch, 
his  colonel.  Having  spent  some  time  with  them,  the 
Duke  at  his  departure  gave  him  a  pass,  intimating  the 
services  he  had  done,  and  the  honors  he  had  received  ; 
presenting  him,  at  the  same  time,  with  fifteen  hun- 
dred ducats  of  gold,  to  repair  his  losses.  And,  al- 
though he  was  now  intent  on  returning  to  his  native 
country,  yet,  being  furnished  with  this  money,  he 
spent  some  time  in  travelling  through  the  principal 
cities  and  provinces  of  Germany,  France,  and  Spain. 
From  the  last,  being  led  by  the  rumor  of  wars,  he 
passed  over  into  Africa,  and  visited  the  court  of  Mo- 
rocco. Having  viewed  many  of  the  places  and  curi- 
osities of  Barbary,  he  at  last  returned,  through  France, 
to  England  ;  and,  in  his  passage  in  a  French  galley, 
they  had  a  most  desperate  engagement,  for  two  or 
three  days  together,  with  two  Spanish  men-of-war. 
In  England  all  things  were  still,  and  in  the  most  pro- 
found peace ;  so  that  there  was  no  room  or  prospect 
for  a  person  of  his  active  and  warlike  genius.  And 
therefore,  having  spent  some  time  in  an  idle  and  un- 
easy state,  he  willingly  embarked  himself  with  Captain 
Gosnold,  in  the  project  of  settling  colonies  in  America, 
and  came  to  Virginia. 

His  conduct  here  has  been  sufficiently  related,  and 
I  shall  finish  his  character,  with  the  testimonies  of 
some  of  his  soldiers  and  fellow  adventurers.  They 
own  him  to  have  made  justice  his  first  guide,  and 
experience  his  second  :  That  he  was  ever  fruitful  in 
expedients,  to  provide  for  the  people  under  his  com- 


I4«2  WILLIAM    STITH 

mand,  whom  he  would  never  suffer  to  want  any 
thing,  he  either  had,  or  could  procure  :  That  he 
rather  chose  to  lead,  than  send  his  soldiers  into  dan- 
ger ;  and,  upon  all  hazardous  or  fatiguing  expeditions, 
always  shared  everything  equally  with  his  company 
and  never  desired  any  of  them  to  do  or  undergo 
anything,  that  he  was  not  ready  to  do  or  undergo 
himself:  That  he  hated  baseness,  sloth,  pride,  and  in- 
dignity, more  than  any  danger  :  That  he  would  suffer 
want,  rather  than  borrow  ;  and  starve,  sooner  than 
not  pay  :  That  he  loved  action  more  than  words  ; 
and  hated  falsehood  and  covetousness  worse  than 
death  :  and  that  his  adventures  gave  life  and  subsist- 
ency  to  the  colony,  and  his  loss  was  their  ruin  and 
destruction.  They  confess,  that  there  were  many 
captains  in  that  age  (as  there  are  indeed  in  all  ages) 
who  were  no  soldiers  ;  but  that  Captain  Smith  was 
a  soldier,  of  the  true  old  English  stamp,  who  fought, 
not  for  gain  or  empty  praise,  but  for  his  country's 
honor  and  the  public  good  ;  That  his  wit,  courage, 
and  success  here,  were  worthy  of  eternal  memory  : 
That  by  the  mere  force  of  his  virtue  and  courage,  he 
awed  the  Indian  kings,  and  made  them  submit,  and 
bring  presents  :  That,  notwithstanding  such  a  stern 
and  invincible  resolution,  there  was  seldom  seen  a 
milder  and  more  tender  heart  than  his  was  :  That  he 
had  nothing  in  him  counterfeit  or  sly,  but  was  open, 
honest,  and  sincere  :  and  that  they  never  knew  a 
soldier,  before  him,  so  free  from  those  military  vices 
cf  wine,  tobacco,  debts,  dice,  and  oaths. 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS. 

Jonathan  Edwards,  by  common  consent  the 
greatest  of  American  divines,  and  one  of  the  great 
theologians  and  metaphysicians  of  the  world,  was 
born  of  good  New  England  stock  at  East  Windsor, 
Connecticut,  October  5,  1702.  A  wonderfully  pre- 
cocious child,  he  wrote  a  paper  at  the  age  of  ten  to  dis- 
prove the  materiality  of  the  soul .  He  entered  Yale  when 
only  twelve  years  old,  and  graduated  in  due  course, 
pursuing  studies  in  the  natural  sciences  and  metaphy- 
sics that  were  in  advance  of  his  years,  and  indeed  of 
his  country.  During  this  period  all  his  doubts  as  to 
the  reconciliation  of  God's  absolute  sovereignty  with  the 
damnation  of  a  large  part  of  the  human  race  suddenly 
vanished,  and  he  was  filled  instead  with  a  kind  of 
God-intoxication  which  remained  with  him  through 
life.  He  studied  theology,  preached  in  New  York 
in  1722,  became  a  tutor  in  Yale  the  next  year,  and 
in  1726  accepted  an  invitation  to  become  the  col- 
league of  his  grandfather,  Solomon  Stoddard,  the 
distinguished  pastor  of  the  church  at  Northampton, 
Massachusetts.  The  next  year  he  married  Sarah 
Pierrepont,  whom  he  had  previously  described  in  the 
exquisite  fragment  given  among  our  selections.  His 
married  life  was  most  happy,  and  for  half  a  generation 
his  ministerial  career  was  all  that  even  he  could  have 
desired.  He  communed  with  nature  as  a  poet,  he 
preached  eloquent  sermons  which  in  that  time  of  reli- 
gious revival  deeply  affected  many  souls,  he  developed 
H3 


144  JONATHAN    EDWARDS. 

the  contributions  he  was  later  to  make  to  metaphysics 
and  the  Calvinistic  theology.  His  success  as  a  mov- 
ing preacher  probably  culminated  in  the  famous  ser- 
mon preached  at  Enfield,  Connecticut,  July  8,  1741, 
passages  from  which  will  be  found  in  our  extracts. 
Three  years  later  his  relations  with  his  parishioners 
became  strained,  through  his  well-meaning  but  rather 
ill-advised  efforts  to  prevent  the  young  people  of  his 
congregation  from  reading  fiction  which  was  probably 
mu.'h  less  demoralizing  than  he  imagined  it  to  be. 
Shortly  after,  he  undertook  to  enforce  the  old  Congre- 
gational rule  restricting  admission  to  the  church  to 
persons  professing  religious  convictions.  As  a  result 
of  this  serious  friction,  he  was  forced  to  resign  his 
charge  in  the  summer  of  1750.  Posterity  has,  of 
course,  sided  with  him,  but  it  seems  clear  that  his 
parishioners  were  not  without  a  case.  His  friends, 
especially  in  Scotland,  stood  by  him,  however,  and 
parishes  were  offered  him,  but  he  preferred  to  be- 
come a  simple  missionary  to  the  Indians  at  Stockbridge. 
Here  he  preached  and  labored  upon  some  of  his 
great  metaphysical  and  theological  works  until  in 
1757  he  was  called  to  succeed  his  son-in-law,  Presi- 
dent Burr  of  Princeton.  He  was  installed  early  in 
1758,  but  was  not  permitted  to  serve  more  than  a 
few  weeks,  for,  having  been  inoculated  against  the 
small-pox,  he  was  taken  with  the  disease  and  died 
on  March  22. 

Edwards's  fame  as  a  great  thinker  has  steadily  in- 
creased since  his  death.  Competent  judges  are  in- 
clined to  doubt  whether  America  has  ever  produced 
a  man  gifted  with  more  sheer  intellectual  force.  Cer- 
tainly no  other  American  has  taken  in  the  eyes  of 


FROM    EDWARDS'S    RESOLUTIONS.     145 

foreigners  such  rank  as  a  metaphysician  and  theologian. 
Yet  the  man  was  as  great  in  his  private  character  as 
in  his  character  of  thinker.  Under  other  circum- 
stances he  might  have  developed  into  a  great  poet, 
and  even  as  it  is,  many  wonderfully  poetical  passages 
are  to  be  found  in  his  writings.  No  complete  edi- 
tion of  these  is  to  be  obtained,  but  there  are  three, 
in  eight,  ten,  and  four  volumes  respectively,  and  there 
is  an  admirable  short  biography  by  the  Rev.  A.  V. 
G.  Allen,  which  furnishes  the  general  reader  with 
the  needed  criticism  of  a  theology  which  is  naturally 
somewhat  antiquated.  Edwards's  most  important 
works,  which,  when  all  deductions  have  been  made, 
remain  a  fount  of  inspiration  to  those  who  truly  think, 
are  as  follows  :  Faithful  Narrative  of  the  Surprising 
Work  of  God  (1736),  Treatise  concerning  the  Re- 
ligious Affections  (1746),  On  the  Freedom  of  the 
Will  (1754),  Treatise  on  Original  Sin  (1758), 
History  of  Redemption  (1774).  To  these  should 
be  added  his  numerous  sermons,  his  Thoughts  con- 
cerning the  Present  Revival  of  Religion  in  New 
England  (1742),  his  Life  of  David  Brainerd,  and 
finally  his  valuable  juvenile  notes  on  scientific  subjects, 
and  his  various  personal  memoranda. 

EXTRACTS   FROM    EDWARDS'S    RESOLU- 
TIONS. 

[Formed  in   Early  Life.] 

4.  Resolved  never  to  Do,  Be  or  Suffer,  anything 
in  soul  or  body,  less  or  more,  but  what  tends  to  the 
glory  of  God. 


146  JONATHAN    EDWARDS. 

34.  Resolved,  never  to  speak  in  narrations  any- 
thing but  the  pure  and  simple  verity. 

4.1.  Resolved,  to  ask  myself  at  the  end  of  every 
day,  week,  month,  and  year,  wherein  I  could  possibly 
in  any  respect  have  done  better. 

43.  Resolved,  never  to  act  as  if  I  were  anyway 
my  own,  but  entirely  and  altogether  God's. 

47.  Resolved,  to  endeavor  to  my  utmost  to  deny 
whatever  is  not  most  agreeable  to  a  good,  and  univer- 
sally sweet  and  benevolent,  quiet,  peaceable,  contented, 
easy,  compassionate,  generous,  humble,  meek,  modest, 
submissive,  obliging,  diligent  and  industrious,  chari- 
table, even,  patient,  moderate,  forgiving,  serene 
temper  ;  and  to  do  at  all  times  what  such  a  temper 
would  lead  me  to.  Examine  strictly  every  week, 
whether  I  have  done  so. 

52.  I  frequently  hear  persons  in  old  age  say  how 
they  would  live,  if  they  were  to  live  their  lives  over 
again  :  Resolved,  that  I  will  live  just  so  as  I  can  think 
I  shall  wish  I  had  done,  supposing  I  live  to  old  age. 


EXTRACTS    FROM    EDWARDS'S    DIARY. 

Saturday,  March  2  (1723)  O,  how  much  pleas- 
anter  is  humility  than  pride  !  O,  that  God  would 
fill  me  with  exceeding  great  humility,  and  that  he  would 
evermore  keep  me  from  all  pride  !  The  pleasures  of 
humility  are  really  the  most  refined,  inward,  and 
exquisite  delights  in  the  world.  How  hateful  is  a 
proud  man  !  How  hateful  is  a  worm  that  lifts  up 
itself  with  pride  !  What  a  foolish,  silly,  miserable, 
blind,  deceived,  poor  worm  am  I,  when  pride  works  ! 


POETRY   OF   SPIRITUALITY.  1 47 

Wednesday,  March  6,  near  sunset.  Felt  the 
doctrines  of  election,  free  grace,  and  of  one  not 
being  able  to  do  anything  without  the  grace  of  God, 
and  that  holiness  is  entirely,  throughout,  the  work  of 
God's  spirit,  with  more  pleasure  than  before. 

^■JC  •fC  *fC  *-jC  yf>  sfi*  sfi*  yf, 

Saturday  night,  April  13.  I  could  pray  more 
heartily  this  night,  for  the  forgiveness  of  my  enemies, 
than  ever  before. 

•fC  *^C  *f£  ^JC  *fi  ^jC  •{£  sf> 

Thursday,  May  2.  I  think  it  a  very  good  way  to 
examine  dreams  every  morning  when  I  awake  ;  what 
are  the  nature,  circumstances,  principles,  and  ends  of 
my  imaginary  actions  and  passions  in  them,  to  discern 
what  are  my  chief  inclinations,  etc. 


THE    POETRY    OF   SPIRITUALITY. 

[From    the  m  Personal    Narrative    found   among 
his   Mss."] 

From  about  that  time,  I  began  to  have  a  new  kind 
of  apprehensions  and  ideas  of  Christ,  and  the  work  of 
redemption,  and  the  glorious  way  of  salvation  by  him. 
An  inward,  sweet  sense  of  these  things,  at  times,  came 
into  my  heart  ;  and  my  soul  was  led  away  in  pleasant 
views  and  contemplations  of  them.  And  my  mind 
was  greatly  engaged  to  spend  my  time  in  reading  and 
meditating  on  Christ,  on  the  beauty  and  excellency  of 
his  person,  and  the  lovely  way  of  salvation  by  free 
grace  in  him.  I  found  no  books  so  delightful  to  me, 
as  those  that  treated  of  these  subjects.      Those  words 


148  JONATHAN    EDWARDS. 

Cant.  ii.  I.  used  to  be  abundantly  with  me,  "I  am 
the  Rose  of  Sharon,  and  the  Lily  of  the  valleys."  The 
words  seemed  to  me  sweetly  to  represent  the  loveliness 
and  beauty  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  whole  book  of 
Canticles  used  to  be  pleasant  to  me,  and  I  used  to 
be  much  in  reading  it,  about  that  time  ;  and  found, 
from  time  to  time,  an  inward  sweetness,  that  would 
carry  me  away,  in  my  contemplations.  This  I  know 
not  how  to  express  otherwise  than  by  a  calm,  sweet 
abstraction  of  soul  from  all  the  concerns  of  this  world  ; 
and  sometimes  a  kind  of  vision,  or  fixed  ideas  and 
imaginations,  of  being  alone  in  the  mountains,  or 
some  solitary  wilderness,  far  from  all  mankind, 
sweetly  conversing  with  Christ,  and  wrapt  and 
swallowed  up  in  God.  The  sense  I  had  of  divine 
things  would  often  of  a  sudden  kindle  up,  as  it  were, 
a  sweet  burning  in  my  heart  ;  an  ardor  of  soul,  that 
I  know  not  how  to  express. 

Not  long  after  I  first  began  to  experience  these 
things,  I  gave  an  account  to  my  father  of  some  things 
that  had  passed  in  my  mind.  I  was  pretty  much 
affected  by  the  discourse  we  had  together  ;  and  when 
the  discourse  was  ended,  I  walked  abroad  alone,  in  a 
solitary  place  in  my  father's  pasture,  for  contemplation. 
And  as  I  was  walking  there,  and  looking  upon  the 
sky  and  clouds,  there  came  into  my  mind  so  sweet  a 
sense  of  the  glorious  majesty  and  grace  of  God,  as  I 
know  not  how  to  express.  I  seemed  to  see  them 
both  in  a  sweet  conjunction  ;  majesty  and  meekness 
joined  together  :  it  was  a  sweet,  and  gentle,  and  holy 
majesty  ;  and  also  a  majestic  meekness  ;  an  awful 
sweetness  ;   a  high,    and  great,   and  holy  gentleness. 

After   this    my  sense    of  divine    things    gradually 


POETRY    OF   SPIRITUALITY.  1 49 

increased,  and  became  more  and  more  lively,  and 
had  more  of  that  inward  sweetness.  The  appearance 
of  everything  was  altered  :  there  seemed  to  be,  as  it 
were,  a  calm,  sweet  cast  or  appearance  of  divine  glory 
in  almost  everything.  God's  excellency,  his  wisdom, 
his  purity  and  love,  seemed  to  appear  in  everything  ; 
in  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars  ;  in  the  clouds  and  blue 
sky  ;  in  the  grass,  flowers,  trees  ;  in  the  water  and  all 
nature  ;  which  used  greatly  to  fix  my  mind.  I  often 
used  to  sit  and  view  the  moon  for  a  long  time  ;  and  in 
the  day  spent  much  time  in  viewing  the  clouds  and 
sky,  to  behold  the  sweet  glory  of  God  in  these  things  : 
in  the  mean  time,  singing  forth,  with  a  low  voice,  my 
contemplations  of  the  Creator  and  Redeemer.  And 
scarce  anything,  among  all  the  works  of  nature,  was  so 
sweet  to  me  as  thunder  and  lightning  ;  formerly  noth- 
ing had  been  so  terrible  to  me.  Before,  I  used  to  be 
uncommonly  terrified  with  thunder,  and  to  be  struck 
with  terror  when  I  saw  a  thunder-storm  rising  ;  but 
now,  on  the  contrary,  it  rejoiced  me.  I  felt  God,  if 
I  may  so  speak,  at  the  first  appearance  of  a  thunder- 
storm ;  and  used  to  take  the  opportunity,  at  such 
times,  to  fix  myself  in  order  to  view  the  clouds,  and 
see  the  lightnings  play,  and  hear  the  majestic  and 
awful  voice  of  God's  thunder,  which  oftentimes  was 
exceedingly  entertaining,  leading  me  to  sweet  con- 
templations of  my  great  and  glorious  God.  While 
thus  engaged,  it  always  seemed  natural  for  me  to 
sing,  or  chant  forth  my  meditations  ;  or  to  speak 
my   thoughts  in   soliloquies   with   a   singing   voice. 

The  heaven   I  desired  was  a  heaven  of  holiness ; 
to  be  with  God,  and  to  spend  my  eternity  in  divine 


150  JONATHAN    EDWARDS. 

love,  and  holy  communion  with  Christ.  My  mind 
was  very  much  taken  up  with  contemplations  on 
heaven,  and  the  enjoyments  there  ;  and  on  living 
there  in  perfect  holiness,  humility  and  love ;  and 
it  used  at  that  time  to  appear  a  great  part  of  the 
happiness  of  heaven  that  there  the  saints  could  ex- 
press their  love  to  Christ.  It  appeared  to  me  a 
great  clog  and  burden,  that  what  I  felt  within,  I 
could  not  express  as  I  desired.  The  inward  ardor 
of  my  soul  seemed  to  be  hindered  and  pent  up,  and 
could  not  freely  flame  out  as  it  would.  I  used  often 
to  think  how  in  heaven  this  principle  should  freely  and 
fully  vent  and  express  itself.  Heaven  appeared  ex- 
ceedingly delightful,  as  a  world  of  love  ;  and  that 
all  happiness  consisted  in  living  in  pure,  humble, 
heavenly,  divine  love. 

I  remember  the  thoughts  I  used  then  to  have  of 
holiness;  and  said  sometimes  to  myself,  "I  do  cer- 
tainly know  that  I  love  holiness,  such  as  the  gospel 
prescribes."  It  appeared  to  me,  that  there  was  noth- 
ing in  it  but  what  was  ravishingly  lovely  ;  the  highest 
beauty  and  amiableness  —  a  divine  beauty  ;  far  purer 
than  anything  here  upon  earth  ;  and  that  everything 
else  was  like  mire  and  defilement  in  comparison  of  it. 

Holiness,  as  I  then  wrote  down  some  of  my  con- 
templations on  it,  appeared  to  me  to  be  of  a  sweet, 
pleasant,  charming,  serene,  calm  nature  ;  which  brought 
an  inexpressible  purity,  brightness,  peacefulness  and 
ravishment  to  the  soul.  In  other  words,  that  it  made 
the  soul  like  a  field  or  garden  of  God,  with  all  man- 
ner of  pleasant  flowers;  enjoying  a  sweet  calm,  and 
the  gently  vivifying  beams  of  the  sun.  The  soul  of  a 
true  Christian,  as  I  then  wrote  my  meditations,  ap- 


POETRY   OF    SPIRITUALITY.  151 

peared  like  such  a  little  white  flower  as  we  see  in  the 
spring  of  the  year  ;  low  and  humble  on  the  ground, 
opening  its  bosom  to  receive  the  pleasant  beams  of 
the  sun's  glory;  rejoicing,  as  it  were,  in  a  calm  rap- 
ture ;  diffusing  around  a  sweet  fragrancy ;  standing 
peacefully  and  lovingly,  in  the  midst  of  other  flowers 
round  about ;  all  in  like  manner  opening  their  bosoms, 
to  drink  in  the  light  of  the  sun.  There  was  no  part 
of  creature- holiness  that  I  had  so  great  a  sense  of  its 
loveliness,  as  humility,  brokenness  of  heart  and  pov- 
erty of  spirit ;  and  there  was  nothing  that  I  so  ear- 
nestly longed  for.  My  heart  panted  after  this  —  to 
lie  low  before  God,  as  in  the  dust ;  that  I  might  be 
nothing,  and  that  God  might  be  all;  that  I  might 
become  as  a  little  child. 

Once,  as  I  rode  out  into  the  country  for  my  health, 
in  1737,  having  alighted  from  my  horse  in  a  retired 
place,  as  my  manner  commonly  has  been,  to  walk  for 
divine  contemplation  and  prayer,  I  had  a  view  that 
for  me  was  extraordinary,  of  the  glory  of  the  Son  of 
God,  as  Mediator  between  God  and  man,  and  his 
wonderful,  great,  full,  pure  and  sweet  grace  and  love, 
and  meek  and  gentle  condescension.  This  grace  that 
appeared  so  calm  and  sweet,  appeared  also  great  above 
the  heavens.  The  person  of  Christ  appeared  ineffably 
excellent,  with  an  excellency  great  enough  to  swallow 
up  all  thought  and  conception  —  which  continued,  as 
near  as  I  can  judge,  about  an  hour ;  which  kept  me 
the  greater  part  of  the  time  in  a  flood  of  tears,  and 
weeping  aloud.  I  felt  an  ardency  of  soul  to  be,  what 
I  know  not  otherwise  how  to  express,  emptied  and 
annihilated  ;  to  lie  in  the  dust,  and  to  be  full  of  Christ 
alone ;   to  love  him   with   a   holy  and   pure  love ;   to 


152  JONATHAN    EDWARDS. 

trust  in  him,  to  live  upon  him ;  to  serve  and  follow 
him;  and  to  be  perfectly  sanctified  and  made  pure, 
with  a  divine  and  heavenly  purity.  I  have,  several 
other  times,  had  views  very  much  of  the  same  nature, 
and  which  have  had  the  same  effects. 


SARAH    PIERREPONT,    AFTERWARD    HIS 
WIFE. 

[Written  on  a  Blank  Leaf,  in    1723.] 

They  say  there  is  a  young  lady  in  New  Haven 
who  is  beloved  of  that  Great  Being,  who  made  and 
rules  the  world,  and  that  there  are  certain  seasons  in 
which  this  Great  Being,  in  some  way  or  other  invisi- 
ble, comes  to  her  and  fills  her  mind  with  exceeding 
sweet  delight,  and  that  she  hardly  cares  for  anything, 
except  to  meditate  on  him  —  that  she  expects  after  a 
while  to  be  received  up  where  he  is,  to  be  raised  up 
out  of  the  world  and  caught  up  into  heaven  ;  being 
assured  that  he  loves  her  too  well  to  let  her  remain 
at  a  distance  from  him  always.  There  she  is  to  dwell 
with  him,  and  to  be  ravished  with  his  love  and  de- 
light forever.  Therefore,  if  you  present  all  the  world 
before  her,  with  the  richest  of  its  treasures,  she  disre- 
gards and  cares  not  for  it,  and  is  unmindful  of  any 
pain  or  affliction.  She  has  a  strange  sweetness  in  her 
mind  and  singular  purity  in  her  affections  ;  is  most 
just  and  conscientious  in  all  her  conduct  ;  and  you 
could  not  persuade  her  to  do  anything  wrong  or  sin- 
ful, if  you  would  give  her  all  the  world,  lest  she  should 
offend  this  Great  Being.    She  is  of  a  wonderful  sweet- 


A   FOUR-YEAR-OLD   CONVERT.        1 53 

ness,  calmness  and  universal  benevolence  of  mind  ; 
especially  after  this  great  God  has  manifested  himself 
to  her  mind.  She  will  sometimes  go  about  from  place 
to  place,  singing  sweetly  ;  and  seems  to  be  always 
full  of  joy  and  pleasure  ;  and  no  one  knows  for  what. 
She  loves  to  be  alone,  walking  in  the  fields  and  groves, 
and  seems  to  have  some  one  invisible  always  convers- 
ing with  her. 


A  FOUR-YEAR-OLD   CONVERT. 
[From  "  Narrative  of  Surprising  Conversions. " 

■736.] 

I  now  proceed  to  the  other  instance  that  I  would 
give  an  account  of,  which  is  of  the  little  child  fore- 
mentioned.  Her  name  is  Phebe  Bartlet,  daughter 
of  William  Bartlet.  I  shall  give  the  account  as  I  took 
it  from  the  mouths  of  her  parents,  whose  veracity  none 
that  know  them  doubt  of. 

She  was  born  in  March,  in  the  year  1  7  3  1 .  About 
the  latter  end  of  April,  or  beginning  of  May,  1735, 
she  was  greatly  affected  by  the  talk  of  her  brother, 
who  had  been  hopefully  converted  a  little  before,  at 
about  eleven  years  of  age,  and  then  seriously  talked  to 
her  about  the  great  things  of  religion.  Her  parents  did 
not  know  of  it  at  that  time,  and  were  not  wont,  in 
the  counsels  they  gave  to  their  children,  particularly 
to  direct  themselves  to  her,  by  reason  of  her  being  so 
young,  and,  as  they  supposed,  not  capable  of  under- 
standing ;  but,  after  her  brother  had  talked  to  her, 
they    observed  her  very   earnestly   to    listen    to  the 


154  JONATHAN    EDWARDS. 

advice  they  gave  to  the  other  children,  and  she  was  ob- 
served very  constantly  to  retire,  several  times  in  a  day, 
as  was  concluded,  for  secret  prayer,  and  grew  more 
and  more  engaged  in  religion,  and  was  more  fre- 
quently in  her  closet,  till  at  last  she  was  wont  to  visit 
it  five  or  six  times  in  a  day,  and  was  so  engaged  in  it, 
that  nothing  would,  at  any  time,  divert  her  from  her 
stated  closet  exercises.  Her  mother  often  observed 
and  watched  her,  when  such  things  occurred,  as  she 
thought  most  likely  to  divert  her,  either  by  putting  it 
out  of  her  thoughts,  or  otherwise  engaging  her  incli- 
nations, but  never  could  observe  her  to  fail.  She 
mentioned  some  very  remarkable  instances. 

She  once,  of  her  own  accord,  spake  of  her  unsuc- 
cessfulness,  in  that  she  could  not  find  God,  or  to  that 
purpose.  But  on  Thursday,  the  last  day  of  July, 
about  the  middle  of  the  day,  the  child  being  in  the 
closet,  where  it  used  to  retire,  its  mother  heard  it 
speaking  aloud,  which  was  unusual,  and  never  had  been 
observed  before  ;  and  her  voice  seemed  to  be  as  of  one 
exceeding  importunate  and  engaged,  but  her  mother 
could  distinctly  hear  only  these  words  (spoken  in  her 
childish  manner,  but  seemed  to  be  spoken  with  ex- 
traordinary earnestness,  and  out  of  distress  of  soul), 
"  Pray  bessed  Lord  give  me  salvation  !  I  pray,  beg 
pardon  all  my  sins  !"  When  the  child  had  done 
prayer,  she  came  out  of  the  closet,  and  came  and  sat 
down  by  her  mother,  and  cried  out  aloud.  Her 
mother  very  earnestly  asked  her  several  times,  what 
the  matter  was,  before  she  would  make  any  answer, 
but  she  continued  exceedingly  crying,  and  writhing 
her  body  to  and  fro,  like  one  in  anguish  of  spirit. 
Her  mother  then  asked  her  whether  she  was  afraid 


A   FOUR-YEAR-OLD   CONVERT.        1 55 

that  God  would  not  give  her  salvation.  She  then 
answered,  "  Yes,  I  am  afraid  I  shall  go  to  hell  !" 
Her  mother  then  endeavored  to  quiet  her,  and  told 
her  she  would  not  have  her  cry  —  she  must  be  a  good 
girl,  and  pray  every  day,  and  she  hoped  God  would 
give  her  salvation.  But  this  did  not  quiet  her  at  all 
—  but  she  continued  thus  earnestly  crying  and  taking 
on  for  some  time,  till  at  length  she  suddenly  ceased 
crying  and  began  to  smile,  and  presently  said  with  a 
smiling  countenance,  "  Mother,  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
is  come  to  me  ! ' '  Her  mother  was  surprised  at  the 
sudden  alteration,  and  at  the  speech,  and  knew  not 
what  to  make  of  it,  but  at  first  said  nothing  to  her. 
The  child  presently  spake  again,  and  said,  "  There 
is  another  come  to  me,  and  there  is  another  —  there 
is  three;"  and  being  asked  what  she  meant,  she 
answered,  "  One  is,  thy  will  be  done,  and  there  is 
another  —  enjoy  him  forever  ; ' '  by  which  it  seems 
that  when  the  child  said,  '*  There  is  three  come  to 
me,"  she  meant  three  passages  of  her  catechism  that 
came  to  her  mind. 

After  the  child  had  said  this,  she  retired  again  into 
her  closet  ;  and  her  mother  went  over  to  her  brother's, 
who  was  next  neighbor  ;  and  when  she  came  back, 
the  child,  being  come  out  of  the  closet,  meets  her 
mother  with  this  cheerful  speech,  '*  I  can  find  God 
now  !  "  Referring  to  what  she  had  before  com- 
plained of,  that  she  could  not  find  God.  Then  the 
child  spoke  again,  and  said,  "  I  love  God  !  "  Her 
mother  asked  her  how  well  she  loved  God,  whether 
she  loved  God  better  than  her  father  and  mother,  she 
said,  "Yes."  Then  she  asked  whether  she  loved 
God  better  than  her  little  sister  Rachel,  she  answered, 


156  JONATHAN    EDWARDS. 

"Yes,  better  than  anything!"  Then  her  eldest  sister, 
referring  to  her  saying  she  could  find  God  now,  asked 
her  where  she  could  find  God  ;  she  answered,  ««  In 
heaven."  "Why,"  said  she,  "have  you  been  in 
heaven  ?  "  f*  No,"  said  the  child.  By  this  it  seems 
not  to  have  been  any  imagination  of  anything  seen  with 
bodily  eyes  that  she  called  God,  when  she  said  "I 
can  find  God  now."  Her  mother  asked  her  whether 
she  was  afraid  of  going  to  hell,  and  that  had  made  her 
cry.  She  answered,  "  Yes,  I  was  ;  but  now  I  shall 
not."  Her  mother  asked  whether  she  thought  that 
God  had  given  her  salvation  ;  she  answered,  '«  Yes." 
Her  mother  asked  her  when  ;  she  answered,  «f  To- 
day." She  appeared  all  that  afternoon  exceeding 
cheerful  and  joyful.  One  of  the  neighbors  asked  her 
how  she  felt  herself  !  She  answered,  ?'  I  feel  better 
than  I  did."  The  neighbor  asked  her  what  made 
her  feel  better  ;  she  answered,  <«  God  makes  me." 
That  evening  as  she  lay  abed,  she  called  one  of  her 
little  cousins  to  her,  that  was  present  in  the  room,  as 
having  something  to  say  to  him  ;  and  when  he  came, 
she  told  him  that  heaven  was  better  than  earth.  The 
next  day  being  Friday,  her  mother,  asking  her  her 
catechism,  asked  her  what  God  made  her  for  ;  she 
answered,  "  To  serve  him  ;  "  and  added,  "  Every- 
body should  serve  God,  and  get  an  interest  in 
Christ." 

The  same  day  the  elder  children,  when  they  came 
home  from  school,  seemed  much  affected  with  the  ex- 
traordinary change  that  seemed  to  be  made  in  Phebe  ; 
and  her  sister  Abigail  standing  by,  her  mother  took 
occasion  to  counsel  her,  now  to  improve  her  time,  to 
prepare  for  another  world  ;    on  which  Phebe   burst 


A    FOUR-YEAR-OLD    CONVERT.        157 

out  in  tears,  and  cried  out  <«  Poor  Nabby  !  "  Her 
mother  told  her,  she  would  not  have  her  cry,  she 
hoped  that  God  would  give  Nabby  salvation  ;  but 
that  did  not  quiet  her,  but  she  continued  earnestly 
crying  for  some  time  ;  and  when  she  had  in  a  measure 
ceased,  her  sister  Eunice  being  by  her,  she  burst  out 
again,  and  cried  "  Poor  Eunice  !  "  and  cried  exceed- 
ingly ;  and  when  she  had  almost  done,  she  went  into 
another  room,  and  there  looked  upon  her  sister 
Naomi,  and  burst  out  again,  crying  <«  Poor  Amy  !  " 
Her  mother  was  greatly  affected  at  such  a  behavior  in 
the  child,  and  knew  not  what  to  say  to  her.  One 
of  the  neighbors  coming  in  a  little  after,  asked  her 
what  she  had  cried  for.  She  seemed,  at  first,  back- 
ward to  tell  the  reason  :  her  mother  told  her  she 
might  tell  that  person,  for  he  had  given  her  an  apple  ; 
upon  which  she  said,  she  cried  because  she  was  afraid 
they  would  go  to  hell. 

.  At  night  a  certain  minister,  that  was  occasionally 
in  the  town,  was  at  the  house,  and  talked  considera- 
ble with  her  of  the  things  of  religion  ;  and  after  he 
was  gone,  she  sat  leaning  on  the  table,  with  tears  run- 
ning out  of  her  eyes  ;  and  being  asked  what  made  her 
cry,  she  said  it  was  thinking  about  God.  The  next 
day  being  Saturday,  she  seemed  great  part  of  the  day 
to  be  in  a  very  affectionate  frame,  had  four  turns  of 
crying,  and  seemed  to  endeavor  to  curb  herself,  and 
hide  her  tears,  and  was  very  backward  to  talk  of  the 
occasion  of  it.  On  the  Sabbath  day  she  was  asked 
whether  she  believed  in  God  ;  she  answered  "  Yes  ;  " 
and  being  told  that  Christ  was  the  Son  of  God,  she 
made  ready  answer,  and  said,  "I  know  it." 

From  this  time  there  has  appeared  a  very  remarka- 


158  JONATHAN    EDWARDS. 

ble  abiding  change  in  the  child,  she  has  been  very 
strict  upon  the  Sabbath,  and  seems  to  long  for  the 
Sabbath  day  before  it  comes,  and  will  often  in  the 
week  time  be  inquiring  how  long  it  is  to  the  Sabbath 
day,  and  must  have  the  days  particularly  counted 
over  that  are  between,  before  she  will  be  contented. 
And  she  seems  to  love  God's  house  —  is  very  eager 
to  go  thither.  Her  mother  once  asked  her  why  she 
had  such  a  mind  to  go  ?  Whether  it  was  not  to  see 
fine  folks  ?  She  said  no,  it  was  to  hear  Mr.  Edwards 
preach.  When  she  is  in  the  place  of  worship,  she  is 
very  far  from  spending  her  time  there  as  children  at 
her  age  usually  do,  but  appears  with  an  attention  that 
is  very  extraordinary  for  such  a  child.  She  also  ap- 
pears very  desirous  at  all  opportunities,  to  go  to  pri- 
vate religious  meetings,  and  is  very  still  and  attentive 
at  home,  in  prayer  time,  and  has  appeared  affected  in 
time  of  family  prayer.  She  seems  to  delight  much  in 
hearing  religious  conversation.  When  I  once  was 
there  with  some  others  that  were  strangers,  and  talked 
to  her  something  of  religion,  she  seemed  more  than 
ordinarily  attentive  ;  and  when  we  were  gone,  she 
looked  out  very  wistly  after  us,  and  said  —  "  I  wish 
they  would  come  again  !"  Her  mother  asked  her 
why  :   says  she,  **  I  love  to  hear  them  talk  !  " 

She  seems  to  have  very  much  of  the  fear  of  God 
before  her  eyes,  and  an  extraordinary  dread  of  sin 
against  him  ;  of  which  her  mother  mentioned  the  fol- 
lowing remarkable  instance.  Some  time  in  August, 
the  last  year,  she  went  with  some  bigger  children,  to 
get  some  plums  in  a  neighbor' s  lot  ;  knowing  nothing 
of  any  harm  in  what  she  did  ;  but  when  she  brought 
some  of  the  plums  into  the  house,  her  mother  mildly 


A   FOUR-YEAR-OLD    CONVERT.        I  59 

reproved  her,  and  told  her  that  she  must  not  get 
plums  without  leave,  because  it  was  sin  ;  God  had 
commanded  her  not  to  steal.  The  child  seemed 
greatly  surprised,  and  burst  out  into  tears,  and  cried 
out,  "  I  will  not  have  these  plums  !  "  And  turning  to 
her  sister  Eunice,  very  earnestly  said  to  her —  M  Why 
did  you  ask  me  to  go  to  that  plum  tree  ?  I  should 
not  have  gone  if  you  had  not  asked  me."  The  other 
children  did  not  seem  to  be  much  affected  or  con- 
cerned ;  but  there  was  no  pacifying  Phebe.  Her 
mother  told  her  she  might  go  and  ask  leave,  and  then 
it  would  not  be  sin  for  her  to  eat  them,  and  sent  one 
of  the  children  to  that  end  ;  and  when  she  returned, 
her  mother  told  her  that  the  owner  had  given  leave, 
now  she  might  eat  them,  and  it  would  not  be  steal- 
ing. This  stilled  her  a  little  while,  but  presently 
she  broke  out  into  an  exceeding  fit  of  crying  :  her 
mother  asked  her  what  made  her  cry  again  ?  Why 
she  cried  now,  since  they  had  asked  leave  ?  what  it 
was  that  troubled  her  now  ?  And  asked  her  several 
times  very  earnestly,  before  she  made  any  answer  : 
but  at  last,  said  it  was  because  —  BECAUSE  IT 
WAS  SIN.  She  continued  a  considerable  time  cry- 
ing ;  and  said  she  would  not  go  again  if  Eunice  asked 
her  a  hundred  times  ;  and  she  retained  her  aversion 
to  that  fruit  for  a  considerable  time,  under  the  remem- 
brance of  her  former  sin. 

She,  at  some  times,  appears  greatly  affected  and 
delighted  with  texts  of  Scripture  that  come  to  her 
mind.  Particularly,  about  the  beginning  of  Novem- 
ber, the  last  year,  that  text  came  to  her  mind,  Rev. 
iii.  20,  M  Behold  I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock  :  if 
any  man   hear  my  voice,  and   open   the  door,  I   will 


l60  JONATHAN    EDWARDS. 

come  in,  and  sup  with  him  and  he  with  me."  She 
spoke  of  it  to  those  of  the  family,  with  a  great  ap- 
pearance of  joy,  a  smiling  countenance,  and  elevation 
of  voice,  and  afterwards  she  went  into  another  room, 
where  her  mother  overheard  her  talking  very  earnestly 
to  the  children  about  it,  and  particularly  heard  her  say 
to  them,  three  or  four  times  over,  with  an  air  of  ex- 
ceeding joy  and  admiration  —  '*  Why  it  is  to  SUP 
WITH  GOD."  At  some  time  about  the  middle  of 
the  winter,  very  late  in  the  night,  when  all  were  in 
bed,  her  mother  perceived  that  she  was  awake,  and 
heard  her  as  though  she  was  weeping.  She  called 
to  her,  and  asked  her  what  was  the  matter.  She  an- 
swered with  a  low  voice,  so  that  her  mother  could 
not  hear  what  she  said  ;  but  perceived  her  to  lie 
awake,  and  to  continue  in  the  same  frame  for  a  con- 
siderable time.  The  next  morning  she  asked  her 
whether  she  did  not  cry  the  last  night  :  the  child  an- 
swered "Yes,  I  did  cry  a  little,  for  I  was  thinking 
about  God  and  Christ,  and  they  loved  me."  Her 
mother  asked  her,  whether  to  think  of  God  and 
Christ's  loving  her  made  her  cry  :  she  answered 
'*  Yes,  it  does  sometimes." 

She  has  often  manifested  a  great  concern  for  the 
good  of  other  souls,  and  has  been  wont  many  times, 
affectionately  to  counsel  the  other  children.  Once 
about  the  latter  end  of  September,  the  last  year,  when 
she  and  some  other  of  the  children  were  in  a  room  by 
themselves  a  husking  Indian  corn,  the  child,  after  a 
while  came  out  and  sat  by  the  fire.  Her  mother 
took  notice  that  she  appeared  with  a  more  than  ordi- 
nary serious  and  pensive  countenance,  but  at  last  she 
broke  silence,  and  said,  "  I  have  been  talking  to  Nabby 


A    FOUR-YEAR-OLD    CONVERT.         l6l 

and  Eunice."  Her  mother  asked  her  what  she  had 
said  to  them.  "Why,"  said  she,  "I  told  them 
they  must  pray,  and  prepare  to  die,  that  they  had  but 
a  little  while  to  live  in  this  world,  and  they  must  be 
always  ready."  When  Nabby  came  out,  her  mother 
asked  her  whether  she  had  said  that  to  them.  "  Yes," 
said  she,  "  she  said  that  and  a  great  deal  more."  At 
other  times  the  child  took  her  opportunities  to  talk  to 
the  other  children  about  the  great  concern  of  their 
souls  ;  sometimes  so  as  much  to  affect  them,  and  set 
them  into  tears.  She  was  once  exceeding  importu- 
nate with  her  mother  to  go  with  her  sister  Naomi  to 
pray  :  her  mother  endeavored  to  put  her  off,  but  she 
pulled  her  by  the  sleeve,  and  seemed  as  if  she  would 
by  no  means  be  denied.  At  last  her  mother  told  her, 
that  Amy  must  go  and  pray  herself;  "  But,"  said  the 
child,  "she  will  not  go,"  and  persisted  earnestly  to 
beg  of  her  mother  to  go  with  her. 

She  has  discovered  an  uncommon  degree  of  a 
spirit  of  charity,  particularly  on  the  following  occa- 
sion :  a  poor  man  that  lives  in  the  woods,  had  lately 
lost  a  cow  that  the  family  much  depended  on,  and 
being  at  the  house,  he  was  relating  his  misfortune, 
and  telling  of  the  straits  and  difficulties  they  were 
reduced  to  by  it.  She  took  much  notice  of  it,  and 
it  wrought  exceedingly  on  her  compassions  ;  and 
after  she  had  attentively  heard  him  a  while,  she 
went  away  to  her  father,  who  was  in  the  shop,  and 
entreated  him  to  give  that  man  a  cow  ;  and  told  him 
that  the  poor  man  had  no  cow  !  That  the  hunters 
or  something  else  had  killed  his  cow  !  and  entreated 
him  to  give  him  one  of  theirs.  Her  father  told  her 
that  they  could  not  spare   one.      Then  she  entreated 


l62  JONATHAN    EDWARDS. 

him  to  let  him  and  his  family  come  and  live  at  his 
house ;  and  had  much  talk  of  the  same  nature, 
whereby  she  manifested  bowels  of  compassion  to  the 
poor. 

She  has  manifested  great  love  to  her  minister  ;  par- 
ticularly when  I  returned  from  my  long  journey  for 
my  health  last  fall,  when  she  heard  of  it  she  appeared 
very  joyful  at  the  news,  and  told  the  children  of  it 
with  an  elevated  voice,  as  the  most  joyful  tidings,  re- 
peating it  over  and  over,  *?  Mr.  Edwards  is  come 
home  !  Mr.  Edwards  is  come  home  !  "  She  still 
continues  very  constant  in  secret  prayer,  so  far  as  can 
be  observed  (for  she  seems  to  have  no  desire  that  others 
should  observe  her  when  she  retires,  but  seems  to  be  a 
child  of  a  reserved  temper),  and  every  night  before 
she  goes  to  bed  will  say  her  catechism,  and  will  by 
no  means  miss  of  it  ;  she  never  forgot  it  but  once,  and 
then  after  she  was  abed,  thought  of  it,  and  cried  out 
in  tears,  "I  have  not  said  my  catechism  !"  And 
would  not  be  quieted  till  her  mother  asked  her  the 
catechism  as  she  lay  in  bed.  She  sometimes  appears 
to  be  in  doubt  about  the  condition  of  her  soul,  and 
when  asked  whether  she  thinks  that  she  is  prepared 
for  death,  speaks  something  doubtfully  about  it ;  at 
other  times  seems  to  have  no  doubt,  but  when  asked, 
replies,  "Yes,"  without  hesitation. 


THOUGHTS   ON   THE    REVIVAL.        1 63 

THE    NATURAL    AND    THE    SPIRITUAL 
SPRING. 

[From  "  Thoughts  on  the  Revival  of  Religion  in 
New   England."] 

A  great  deal  of  noise  and  tumult,  confusion  and 
uproar,  and  darkness  mixed  with  light,  and  evil  with 
good,  is  always  to  be  expected  in  the  beginning  of 
something  very  extraordinary  and  very  glorious  in  the 
state  of  things  in  human  society  or  the  church  of  God  : 
as  after  nature  has  long  been  shut  up  in  a  cold  dead 
state  in  time  of  winter,  when  the  sun  returns  in  the 
spring,  there  is,  together  with  the  increase  of  the  light 
and  heat  of  the  sun,  very  unpleasant  and  tempestuous 
weather  before  all  is  settled  calm  and  serene,  and  all 
nature  rejoices  in  its  bloom  and  beauty.  It  is  in  the 
new  creation  as  it  was  in  the  old,  the  Spirit  of  God 
first  moved  upon  the  face  of  the  waters,  which  was 
an  occasion  of  great  uproar  and  tumult,  and  things 
were  gradually  brought  to  a  settled  state,  until  at 
length  all  stood  forth  in  beautiful  peaceful  order,  when 
the  heavens  and  the  earth  were  finished,  and  God  saw 
every  thing  that  he  had  made,  and  behold  it  was  very 
good.  When  God  is  about  to  bring  to  pass  something 
great  and  glorious  in  the  world,  nature  is  in  a  ferment 
and  struggle,  and  the  world,  as  it  were,  in  travail. 
As  when  God  was  about  to  introduce  the  Messiah 
into  the  world,  and  that  new  and  glorious  dispensa- 
tion that  he  set  up,  he  shook  the  heavens  and  the  earth 
and  shook  all  nations.  There  is  nothing  that  the 
church  of  God  is  in  Scripture  more  frequently  repre- 


164  JONATHAN   EDWARDS. 

sented  by  than  the  tree,  the  vine,  corn,  &c.  which 
gradually  bring  forth  their  fruit,  and  are  first  green 
before  they  are  ripe.  A  great  revival  of  religion  is 
expressly  compared  to  this  gradual  production  of 
vegetation,  Isaiah,  61  :  1 1  ;  '*  As  the  earth  bring- 
eth  forth  her  bud,  and  as  the  garden  causeth  the 
things  that  are  sown  in  it  to  spring  forth,  so  the  Lord 
God  will  cause  righteousness  and  praise  to  spring 
forth  before  all  the  nations."  The  church  is  in  a 
special  manner  compared  to  a  palm-tree.  Cant.  7  : 
7,  8  ;  Exod.  15  :  27  ;  1  Kings,  6  :  29  ;  Psalm 
92  :  12.  Of  which  tree  this  peculiar  thing  is  ob- 
served, that  the  fruit  of  it,  though  it  be  very  sweet 
and  good  when  it  is  ripe,  yet  before  it  has  had  time 
to  ripen  has  a  mixture  of  poison. 


Reasons  for  Believing  that  the  Great  Work  of 
God  for  the  World's  Conversion  may  begin  in 
America. 

[from  the  same.] 

It  is  not  unlikely  that  this  work  of  God's  Spirit 
which  is  so  extraordinary  and  wonderful,  is  the  dawn- 
ing, or  at  least  a  prelude  of  that  glorious  work  of  God 
so  often  foretold  in  Scripture,  which  in  the  progress 
and  issue  of  it  shall  renew  the  world  of  mankind.  If 
we  consider  how  long  since  the  things  foretold  as 
what  should  precede  this  great  event  have  been  ac- 
complished ;  and  how  long  this  event  has  been  ex- 
pected by  the  church  of  God,  and  thought  to  be  nigh 


THOUGHTS   ON   THE    REVIVAL.       1 65 

by  the  most  eminent  men  of  God  in  the  church  ;  and 
withal  consider  what  the  state  of  things  now  is,  and 
has  for  a  considerable  time  been,  in  the  church  of 
God  and  the  world  of  mankind,  we  cannot  reasonably 
think  otherwise  than  that  the  beginning  of  this  great 
work  of  God  must  be  near. 

And  there  are  many  things  that  make  it  probable 
that  this  work  will  begin  in  America,  It  is  signified 
that  it  shall  begin  in  some  very  remote  part  of  the 
world,  that  the  rest  of  the  world  have  no  communi- 
cation with  but  by  navigation,  in  Isa.  60  :  9  ;  "  Surely 
the  Isles  will  wait  for  me,  and  the  ships  of  Tarshish 
first,  to  bring  my  sons  from  far."  It  is  exceeding 
manifest  that  this  chapter  is  a  prophecy  of  the  pros- 
perity of  the  church  in  its  most  glorious  state  on  earth 
in  the  latter  days  ;  and  I  cannot  think  that  any  thing  else 
can  be  here  intended  but  America,  by  the  isles  that 
are  afar  off,  from  whence  the  first  born  sons  of  that 
glorious  day  shall  be  brought.  Indeed  by  the  Isles, 
in  prophecies  of  gospel  times,  is  very  often  meant 
Europe :  it  is  so  in  prophecies  of  that  great  spreading 
of  the  Gospel  that  should  be  soon  after  Christ's  time, 
because  it  was  far  separated  from  that  part  of  the 
world  where  the  church  of  God  had  until  then  been 
by  the  sea.  But  this  prophecy  cannot  have  respect 
to  the  conversion  of  Europe  in  the  time  of  that  great 
work  of  God  in  the  primitive  ages  of  the  christian 
church  ;  for  it  was  not  fulfilled  then  :  the  isles  and 
ships  of  Tarshish,  thus  understood,  did  not  wait  for 
God  first  ;  that  glorious  work  did  not  begin  in  Europe, 
but  in  Jerusalem,  and  had  for  a  considerable  time  been 
very  wonderfully  carried  on  in  Asia  before  it  reached 
Europe.      And  as  it  is  not  that  work  of  God   that  is 


1 66  JONATHAN    EDWARDS. 

chiefly  intended  in  this  chapter,  but  that  more  glorious 
work  that  should  be  in  the  latter  ages  of  the  christian 
church,  therefore  some  other  part  of  the  world  is 
here  intended  by  the  Isles,  that  should  be,  as  Europe 
then  was,  far  separated  from  that  part  of  the  world 
where  the  church  had  before  been  by  the  sea,  and 
with  which  it  can  have  no  communication  but  by  the 
ships  of  Tarshish.  What  is  chiefly  intended  is  not 
the  British  Isles,  nor  any  isles  near  the  other  conti- 
nent ;  for  they  are  spoken  of  as  at  a  great  distance 
from  that  part  of  the  world  where  the  church  had 
till  then  been.  This  prophecy  therefore  seems 
plainly  to  point  out  America  as  the  first  fruits  of  that 
glorious  day. 

God  has  made  as  it  were  two  worlds  here  below, 
the  old  and  the  new  (according  to  the  names  they 
are  now  called  by,)  two  great  habitable  continents, 
far  separated  one  from  the  other.  The  latter  is  but 
newly  discovered;  it  was  formerly  wholly  unknown 
from  age  to  age,  and  is  as  it  were  now  but  newly 
created;  it  has  been,  until  of  late,  wholly  the  posses- 
sion of  Satan,  the  church  of  God  having  never  been 
in  it,  as  it  has  been  in  the  other  continent  from  the 
beginning  of  the  world.  This  new  world  is  probably 
now  discovered,  that  the  new  and  most  glorious  state 
of  God's  church  on  earth  might  commence  there; 
that  God  might  in  it  begin  a  new  world  in  a  spiritual 
respect,  when  he  creates  the  new  heavens  and  new 
earth. 

God  has  already  put  that  honor  upon  the  other 
continent,  that  Christ  was  born  there  literally,  and 
there  made  the  purchase  of  redemption :  so,  as  Provi- 
dence observes  a  kind  of  equal  distribution  of  things, 


THOUGHTS   ON   THE    REVIVAL.       1 67 

it  is  not  unlikely  that  the  great  spiritual  birth  of  Christ 
and  the  most  glorious  application  of  redemption  is  to 
begin  in  this :  as  the  elder  sister  brought  forth  Judah, 
of  whom  came  Christ,  and  so  she  was  the  mother  of 
Christ ;  but  the  younger  sister,  after  long  barrenness, 
brought  forth  Joseph  and  Benjamin,  the  beloved  chil- 
dren—  Joseph,  that  had  the  most  glorious  apparel, 
the  coat  of  many  colors,  who  was  separated  from  his 
brethren,  and  was  exalted  to  such  glory  out  of  a  dark 
dungeon,  and  fed  and  saved  the  world  when  ready 
to  perish  with  famine,  and  was  as  a  fruitful  bough  by 
a  well,  whose  branches  ran  over  the  wall,  and  was 
blessed  with  all  manner  of  blessings  and  precious 
things  of  heaven  and  earth,  through  the  good  will  of 
Him  that  dwelt  in  the  bush ;  and  was,  as  by  the 
horns  of  a  unicorn,  to  push  the  people  together  to 
the  ends  of  the  earth,  i.e.  conquer  the  world.  See 
Gen.  49:  22,  &c.  and  Deut.  33  :  13,  &c.  and  Ben- 
jamin, whose  mess  was  five  times  so  great  as  that  of 
any  of  his  brethren,  and  to  whom  Joseph,  the  type 
of  Christ,  gave  wealth  and  raiment  far  beyond  all  the 
rest.      Gen.  45  :   22. 

The  other  continent  hath  slain  Christ,  and  has 
from  age  to  age  shed  the  blood  of  the  saints  and 
martyrs  of  Jesus,  and  has  often  been  as  it  were  del- 
uged with  the  church's  blood :  God  has  therefore 
probably  reserved  the  honor  of  building  the  glorious 
temple  to  the  daughter  that  has  not  shed  so  much 
blood,  when  those  times  of  the  peace,  and  prosperity, 
and  glory  of  the  church  shall  commence,  that  were 
typified  by  the  reign  of  Solomon. 

The  Gentiles  first  received  the  true  religion  from 
the  Jews:   God's  church  of  ancient  times  had  been 


1 68  JONATHAN    EDWARDS. 

among  them,  and  Christ  was  of  them :  but  that  there 
might  be  a  kind  of  equality  in  the  dispensations  of  Provi- 
dence, God  has  so  ordered  it,  that  when  the  Jews 
come  to  be  admitted  to  the  benefits  of  the  evangelical 
dispensation,  and  to  receive  their  highest  privileges  of 
all,  they  should  receive  the  Gospel  from  the  Gentiles. 
Though  Christ  was  of  them,  yet  they  have  been  guilty 
of  crucifying  him  ;  it  is  therefore  the  will  of  God  that 
that  people  should  not  have  the  honor  of  communicat- 
ing the  blessings  of  the  kingdom  of  God  in  its  most 
glorious  state  to  the  Gentiles,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
they  shall  receive  the  Gospel  in  the  beginning  of  that 
glorious  day  from  the  Gentiles.  In  some  analogy  to 
this  I  apprehend  God's  dealings  will  be  with  the  two 
continents.  America  has  received  the  true  religion 
of  the  old  continent ;  the  church  of  ancient  times  has 
been  there,  and  Christ  is  from  thence  ;  but  that  there 
may  be  an  equality,  and  inasmuch  as  that  continent 
has  crucified  Christ,  they  shall  not  have  the  honor  of 
communicating  religion  in  its  most  glorious  state  to 
us,  but  we  to  them. 

The  old  continent  has  been  the  source  and  original 
of  mankind  in  several  respects.  The  first  parents  of 
mankind  dwelt  there  ;  and  there  dwelt  Noah  and  his 
sons  ;  and  there  the  second  Adam  was  born,  and 
was  crucified  and  rose  again  :  and  it  is  probable 
that,  in  some  measure  to  balance  these  things,  the  most 
glorious  renovation  of  the  world  shall  originate  from 
the.  new  continent,  and  the  church  of  God  in  that 
respect  be  from  hence.  And  so  it  is  probable  that 
that  will  come  to  pass  in  spirituals  that  has  in  tem- 
porals, with  respect  to  America  ;  that  whereas,  till 
of  late,  the  world   was   supplied  with    its   silver   and 


THOUGHTS   ON   THE   REVIVAL.        169 

gold  and  earthly  treasures  from  the  old  continent 
and  now  is  supplied  chiefly  from  the  new,  so  the 
course  of  things  in  spiritual  respects  will  be  in  like 
manner  turned. 

And  it  is  worthy  to  be  noted  that  America  was 
discovered  about  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  or  but 
little  before:  which  Reformation  was  the  first  thing 
that  God  did  towards  the  glorious  renovation  of  the 
world,  after  it  had  sunk  into  the  depths  of  darkness 
and  ruin  under  the  great  antichristian  apostacy.  So 
that  as  soon  as  this  new  world  is  (as  it  were)  created 
and  stands  forth  in  view,  God  presently  goes  about 
doing  some  great  thing  to  make  way  for  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  church's  latter  day  glory,  that  is  to  have 
its  first  seat  in,  and  is  to  take  its  rise  from  that  new 
world. 

It  is  agreeable  to  God's  manner  of  working,  when 
he  accomplishes  any  glorious  work  in  the  world,  to 
introduce  a  new  and  more  excellent  state  of  his  church, 
to  begin  his  work  where  his  church  had  not  been  till 
then,  and  where  was  no  foundation  already  laid,  that 
the  power  of  God  might  be  the  more  conspicuous; 
that  the  work  might  appear  to  be  entirely  God's,  and 
be  more  manifestly  a  creation  out  of  nothing ;  agree- 
ably to  Hos.  1:  10,  "And  it  shall  come  to  pass 
that  in  the  place  where  it  was  said  unto  them,  ye  are 
not  my  people,  there  it  shall  be  said  unto  them,  ye 
are  the  sons  of  the  living  God."  When  God  is  about 
to  turn  the  earth  into  a  paradise,  he  does  not  begin 
his  work  where  there  is  some  good  growth  already, 
but  in  a  wilderness,  where  nothing  grows  and  nothing 
is  to  be  seen  but  dry  sand  and  barren  rocks  ;  that  the 
light  may  shine  out  of  darkness  and  the  world  be  re- 


170  JONATHAN   EDWARDS. 

plenished  from  emptiness,  and  the  earth  watered  by- 
springs  from  a  droughty  desert;  agreeably  to  many- 
prophecies  of  Scripture,  as  Isa.  32:  15,  "  Until  the 
Spirit  be  poured  from  on  high  and  the  wilderness  be- 
come a  fruitful  field;"  and  chap.  41  :  18,  "I  will 
open  rivers  in  high  places  and  fountains  in  the  midst 
of  the  valleys  ;  I  will  make  the  wilderness  a  pool  of 
water  and  the  dry  land  springs  of  water :  I  will  plant 
in  the  wilderness  the  cedar,  the  shittah  tree,  and  the 
myrtle  and  oil  tree ;  I  will  set  in  the  desert  the  fir 
tree,  and  the  pine,  and  the  box  tree  together;"  and 
chap.  43  :  20,  "I  will  give  waters  in  the  wilderness 
and  rivers  in  the  desert,  to  give  drink  to  my  people, 
my  chosen."  Many  other  parallel  Scriptures  might 
be  mentioned. 

I  observed  before,  that  when  God  is  about  to  do 
some  great  work  for  his  church,  his  manner  is  to 
begin  at  the  lower  end  ;  so  when  he  is  about  to  re- 
new the  whole  habitable  earth,  it  is  probable  that  he 
will  begin  in  this  utmost,  meanest,  youngest  and 
weakest  part  of  it,  where  the  church  of  God  has  been 
planted  last  of  all  ;  and  so  the  first  shall  be  last,  and 
the  last  first  ;  and  that  will  be  fulfilled  in  an  eminent 
manner  in  Isa.  24  :  16,  "  From  the  uttermost  part 
of  the  earth  have  we  heard  songs,  even  glory  to  the 
righteous." 

There  are  several  things  that  seem  to  me  to  argue 
that  when  the  Sun  of  Righteousness,  the  Sun  of  the 
new  heavens  and  new  earth,  comes  to  rise,  and  comes 
forth  as  the  bridegroom  of  his  church,  "  rejoicing  as 
a  strong  man  to  run  his  race,  having  his  going  forth 
from  the  end  of  heaven,  and  his  circuit  to  the  end  of 
it,  that  nothing  may  be  hid   from   the   light  and   heat 


THOUGHTS   ON   THE   REVIVAL.       171 

of  it,"  1  the  sun  shall  rise  in  the  west,  contrary  to  the 
course  of  this  world,  or  the  course  of  things  in  the 
old  heavens  and  earth.  The  course  of  God's  Provi- 
dence shall  in  that  day  be  so  wonderfully  altered  in 
many  respects,  that  God  will  as  it  were  change  the 
course  of  nature  in  answer  to  the  prayers  of  his 
church  ;  as  God  changed  the  course  of  nature  and 
caused  the  sun  to  go  from  the  west  to  the  east  when 
Hezekiah  was  healed,  and  God  promised  to  do  such 
great  things  for  his  church,  to  deliver  it  out  of  the  hand 
of  the  king  of  Assyria,  by  that  mighty  slaughter  by  the 
angel  ;  which  is  often  used  by  the  prophet  Isaiah  as 
a  type  of  the  glorious  deliverance  of  the  church  from 
her  enemies  in  the  latter  days  :  the  resurrection  of 
Hezekiah,  the  king  and  captain  of  the  church  (as  he 
is  called,  2  Kings,  20  :  5),  as  it  were  from  the  dead, 
is  given  as  an  earnest  of  the  church's  resurrection  and 
salvation,  Isa.  38  :  6,  and  is  a  type  of  the  resur- 
rection of  Christ.  At  the  same  time  there  is  a  res- 
urrection of  the  sun,  or  coming  back  and  rising  again 
from  the  west,  whither  it  had  gone  down,  which  is 
also  a  type  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness.  The  sun 
was  brought  back  ten  degrees,  which  probably  brought 
it  to  the  meridian.  The  Sun  of  Righteousness  has 
long  been  going  down  from  east  to  west  ;  and  prob- 
ably when  the  time  comes  of  the  church's  deliver- 

1  It  is  evident  that  the  Holy  Spirit  in  these  expressions,  Psalm 
19:4,  5,  6,  has  respect  to  something  else  besides  the  natural 
sun  ;  and  that  an  eye  is  had  to  the  Sun  of  Righteousness,  that  by 
his  light  converts  the  soul,  makes  wise  the  simple,  enlightens  the 
eyes,  and  rejoices  the  heart ;  and  by  his  preached  Gospel  enlight- 
ens and  warms  the  world  of  mankind.  Such  is  the  Psalmist's 
own  application  in  verse  7,  and  the  apostle's  application  of  verse  4, 
in  Rom.   10  :  1  3. 


172  JONATHAN   EDWARDS. 

ance  from  her  enemies,  so  often  typified  by  the 
Assyrians,  the  light  will  rise  in  the  west,  until  it 
shines  through  the  world  like  the  sun  in  its  meridian 
brightness. 

The  same  seems  also  to  be  represented  by  the 
course  of  the  waters  of  the  sanctuary,  Ezek.  47, 
which  was  from  west  to  east  ;  which  waters  un- 
doubtedly represent  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  the  progress 
of  his  saving  influences,  in  the  latter  ages  of  the 
world  :  for  it  is  manifest  that  the  whole  of  those  last 
chapters  of  Ezekiel  are  concerning  the  glorious  state 
of  the  church  that  shall  then  be. 

And  if  we  may  suppose  that  this  glorious  work 
of  God  shall  begin  in  any  part  of  America,  I  think 
if  we  consider  the  circumstances  of  the  settlement  of 
New  England,  it  must  needs  appear  the  most  likely 
of  all  the  American  colonies  to  be  the  place  whence 
this  work  shall  principally  take  its  rise. 

And  if  these  things  are  so,  it  gives  more  abundant 
reason  to  hope  that  what  is  now  seen  in  America, 
and  especially  in  New  England,  may  prove  the  dawn 
of  that  glorious  day  ;  and  the  very  uncommon  and 
wonderful  circumstances  and  events  of  this  work  seem 
to  me  strongly  to  argue  that  God  intends  it  as  the 
beginning  or  forerunner  of  something  vastly  great. 

I  have  thus  long  insisted  on  this  point,  because  if 
these  things  are  so,  it  greatly  manifests  how  much  it 
behooves  us  to  encourage  and  promote  this  work,  and 
how  dangerous  it  will  be  to  forbear  to  do  so. 


IN   THE    HANDS  OF   AN   ANGRY  GOD.      1 73 

SINNERS  IN  THE  HANDS  OF  AN  ANGRY 
GOD. 

[From   a   Sermon  preached   at    Enfield,   Conn., 
July  8,    1 741.] 

application. 

The  use  may  be  of  awakening  to  unconverted  per- 
sons in  this  congregation.  This  that  you  have  heard 
is  the  case  of  every  one  of  you  that  are  out  of  Christ. 
That  world  of  misery,  that  lake  of  burning  brimstone, 
is  extended  abroad  under  you.  There  is  the  dread- 
ful pit  of  the  glowing  flames  of  the  wrath  of  God  ; 
there  is  hell's  wide  gaping  mouth  open  ;  and  you 
have  nothing  to  stand  upon,  nor  anything  to  take 
hold  of.  There  is  nothing  between  you  and  hell  but 
the  air  ;  it  is  only  the  power  and  mere  pleasure  of 
God  that  holds  you  up. 

You  are  probably  not  sensible  of  this  ;  you  find 
you  are  kept  out  of  hell,  but  do  not  see  the  hand  of 
God  in  it  ;  but  look  at  other  things,  as  the  good 
state  of  your  bodily  constitution,  your  care  of  your 
own  life,  and  the  means  you  use  for  your  own  preserva- 
tion. But  indeed  these  things  are  nothing;  if  God 
should  withdraw  his  hand,  they  would  avail  no  more 
to  keep  you  from  falling  than  the  thin  air  to  hold  up 
a  person  that  is  suspended  in  it. 

Your  wickedness  makes  you  as  it  were  heavy  as 
lead  and  to  tend  downwards  with  great  weight  and 
pressure  towards  hell  ;  and,  if  God  should  let  you  go, 
you  would  immediately  sink  and   swiftly  descend  and 


174  JONATHAN    EDWARDS. 

plunge  into  the  bottomless  gulf,  and  your  healthy- 
constitution,  and  your  own  care  and  prudence,  and 
best  contrivance,  and  all  your  righteousness,  would 
have  no  more  influence  to  uphold  you  and  keep  you 
out  of  hell,  than  a  spider's  web  would  have  to  stop 
a  falling  rock.  Were  it  not  that  so  is  the  sovereign 
pleasure  of  God,  the  earth  would  not  bear  you  one 
moment  ;  for  you  are  a  burden  to  it ;  the  creation 
groans  with  you  ;  the  creature  is  made  subject  to  the 
bondage  of  your  corruption,  not  willingly  ;  the  sun 
does  not  willingly  shine  upon  you  to  give  you  light 
to  serve  sin  and  Satan  ;  the  earth  does  not  willingly 
yield  her  increase  to  satisfy  your  lusts  ;  nor  is  it 
willingly  a  stage  for  your  wickedness  to  be  acted 
upon  ;  the  air  does  not  willingly  serve  you  for  breath 
to  maintain  the  flame  of  life  in  your  vitals,  while  you 
spend  your  life  in  the  service  of  God's  enemies. 
God's  creatures  are  good,  and  were  made  for  men  to 
serve  God  with,  and  do  not  willingly  subserve  to  any 
other  purpose,  and  groan  when  they  are  abused  to 
purposes  so  directly  contrary  to  their  nature  and  end. 
And  the  world  would  spew  you  out,  were  it  not  for 
the  sovereign  hand  of  him  who  hath  subjected  it  in 
hope.  There  are  the  black  clouds  of  God's  wrath 
now  hanging  directly  over  your  heads,  full  of  the 
dreadful  storm  and  big  with  thunder  ;  and  were  it 
not  for  the  restraining  hand  of  God,  it  would  imme- 
diately burst  forth  upon  you.  The  sovereign  pleasure 
of  God,  for  the  present,  stays  his  rough  wind  ;  other- 
wise it  would  come  with  fury,  and  your  destruction 
would  come  like  a  whirlwind,  and  you  would  be  like 
the  chafF  of  the  summer  threshing  floor. 

The  wrath  of  God  is   like  great  waters   that   are 


IN    THE    HANDS  OF   AN   ANGRY  GOD.      1 75 

dammed  for  the  present  ;  they  increase  more  and 
more,  and  rise  higher,  till  an  outlet  is  given  ;  and  the 
longer  the  stream  is  stopped,  the  more  rapid  and 
mighty  is  its  course  when  once  it  is  let  loose.  It  is 
true  that  judgment  against  your  evil  work  has  not  been 
executed  hitherto  ;  the  floods  of  God's  vengeance  have 
been  withheld  ;  but  your  guilt  in  the  meantime  is 
constantly  increasing,  and  you  are  every  day  treasur- 
ing up  more  wrath  ;  the  waters  are  continually  rising 
and  waxing  more  and  more  mighty  ;  and  there  is 
nothing  but  the  mere  pleasure  of  God  that  holds 
the  waters  back,  that  are  unwilling  to  be  stopped  and 
press  hard  to  go  forward.  If  God  should  only  with- 
draw his  hand  from  the  floodgate,  it  would  immedi- 
ately fly  open,  and  the  fiery  floods  of  the  fierceness 
and  wrath  of  God  would  rush  forth  with  inconceiva- 
ble fury,  and  would  come  upon  you  with  omnipotent 
power  ;  and,  if  your  strength  were  ten  thousand 
times  greater  than  it  is,  yea,  ten  thousand  times 
greater  than  the  strength  of  the  stoutest,  sturdiest 
devil  in  hell,  it  would  be  nothing  to  withstand  or 
endure  it. 

The  bow  of  God's  wrath  is  bent,  and  the  arrow 
made  ready  on  the  string,  and  justice  bends  the  arrow 
at  your  heart  and  strains  the  bow,  and  it  is  nothing 
but  the  mere  pleasure  of  God,  and  that  of  an  angry 
God,  without  any  promise  or  obligation  at  all,  that 
keeps  the  arrow  one  moment  from  being  made  drunk 
with  your  blood. 

Thus  are  all  you  that  never  passed  under  a  great 
change  of  heart  by  the  mighty  power  of  the  Spirit  of 
God  upon  your  souls  ;  all  that  were  never  born 
again,  and  made  new  creatures,  and  raised  from  being 


176  JONATHAN    EDWARDS. 

dead  in  sin  to  a  state  of  new,  and  before  altogether 
unexperienced,  light  and  life  (however  you  may  have 
reformed  your  life  in  many  things,  and  may  have  had 
religious  affections,  and  may  keep  up  a  form  of  reli- 
gion in  your  families  and  closets,  and  in  the  houses 
of  God,  and  may  be  strict  in  it) ,  you  are  thus  in  the 
hands  of  an  angry  God  ;  it  is  nothing  but  his  mere 
oleasure  that  keeps  you  from  being  this  moment 
swallowed  up  in  everlasting  destruction. 

However  unconvinced  you  may  now  be  of  the 
truth  of  what  you  hear,  by-and-by  you  will  be  fully 
convinced  of  it.  Those  that  are  gone  from  being  in 
the  like  circumstances  with  you,  see  that  it  was  so 
with  them  :  for  destruction  came  suddenly  upon  most 
of  them  ;  when  they  expected  nothing  of  it,  and 
while  they  were  saying,  Peace  and  safety  :  now  they 
see  that  those  things  that  they  depended  on  for  peace 
and  safety  were  nothing  but  thin  air  and  empty 
shadows. 

The  God  that  holds  you  over  the  pit  of  hell,  much 
as  one  holds  a  spider,  or  some  loathsome  insect,  over 
the  fire,  abhors  you  and  is  dreadfully  provoked  ;  his 
wrath  towards  you  burns  like  fire  ;  he  looks  upon  you 
as  worthy  of  nothing  else  but  to  be  cast  into  the  fire  ; 
he  is  of  purer  eyes  than  to  bear  to  have  you  in  his 
sight  ;  you  are  ten  thousand  times  so  abominable  in 
his  eyes,  as  the  most  hateful  and  venomous  serpent  is 
in  ours.  You  have  offended  him  infinitely  more 
than  ever  a  stubborn  rebel  did  his  prince  :  and  yet  it 
is  nothing  but  his  hand  that  holds  you  from  falling 
into  the  fire  every  moment  :  it  is  ascribed  to  nothing 
else  that  you  did  not  go  to  hell  last  night ;  that  you 
were  suffered  to  awake  again  in  this  world,  after  you 


IN   THE    HANDS   OF   AN    ANGRY  GOD.     177 

closed  your  eyes  to  sleep  ;  and  there  is  no  other 
reason  to  be  given  why  you  have  not  dropped  into 
hell  since  you  arose  in  the  morning,  but  that  God's 
hand  has  held  you  up  :  there  is  no  other  reason  to  be 
given  why  you  have  not  gone  to  hell,  since  you  have 
sat  here  in  the  house  of  God,  provoking  his  pure 
eyes  by  your  sinful  wicked  manner  of  attending  his 
solemn  worship  :  yea,  there  is  nothing  else  that  is  to 
be  given  as  a  reason  why  you  do  not  this  very  mo- 
ment drop  down  into  hell. 

O  sinner  !  consider  the  fearful  danger  you  are  in  : 
it  is  a  great  furnace  of  wrath,  a  wide  and  bottomless 
pit,  full  of  the  fire  of  wrath,  that  you  are  held  over 
in  the  hand  of  that  God,  whose  wrath  is  provoked 
and  incensed  as  much  against  you,  as  against  many 
of  the  damned  in  hell  :  you  hang  by  a  slender  thread, 
with  the  flames  of  divine  wrath  flashing  about  it,  and 
ready  every  moment  to  singe  it  and  burn  it  asunder  ; 
and  you  have  no  interest  in  any  Mediator,  and  noth- 
ing to  lay  hold  of  to  save  yourself,  nothing  to  keep 
off  the  flames  of  wrath,  nothing  of  your  own,  noth- 
ing that  you  ever  have  done,  nothing  that  you  can 
do,  to  induce  God  to  spare  you  one  moment.    .    .   . 

How  awful  are  those  words,  Isaiah  lxiii.  3,  which 
are  the  words  of  the  great  God  :  "  I  will  tread  them 
in  my  anger,  and  trample  them  in  my  fury,  and  their 
blood  shall  be  sprinkled  upon  my  garments,  and  I 
will  stain  all  my  raiment."  It  is  perhaps  impossible 
to  conceive  of  words  that  carry  in  them  greater 
manifestations  of  these  three  things,  viz.,  contempt 
and  hatred,  and  fierceness  of  indignation.  If  you 
cry  to  God  to  pity  you,  he  will  be  so  far  from  pity- 
ing  you  in  your   doleful   case,   or   showing   you   the 


178  JONATHAN    EDWARDS. 

least  regard  or  favor,  that  instead  of  that  he  will 
only  tread  you  under  foot :  and  though  he  will  know 
that  you  cannot  bear  the  weight  of  omnipotence 
treading  upon  you,  yet  he  will  not  regard  that,  but 
he  will  crush  you  under  his  feet  without  mercy  ;  he 
will  crush  out  your  blood,  and  make  it  fly,  and  it 
shall  be  sprinkled  on  his  garments,  so  as  to  stain  all 
his  raiment.  He  will  not  only  hate  you,  but  he  will 
have  you  in  the  utmost  contempt  ;  no  place  shall  be 
thought  fit  for  you  but  under  his  feet,  to  be  trodden 
down  as  the  mire  in  the  streets. 

Thus  it  will  be  with  you  that  are  in  an  uncon- 
verted state,  if  you  continue  in  it  ;  the  infinite  might, 
and  majesty,  and  terribleness,  of  the  Omnipotent 
God  shall  be  magnified  upon  you  in  the  ineffable 
strength  of  your  torments  :  you  shall  be  tormented  in 
the  presence  of  the  holy  angels,  and  in  the  presence 
of  the  Lamb  ;  and,  when  you  shall  be  in  this  state  of 
suffering,  the  glorious  inhabitants  of  heaven  shall  go 
forth  and  look  on  the  awful  spectacle,  that  they  may 
see  what  the  wrath  and  fierceness  of  the  Almighty  is  ; 
and  when  they  have  seen  it,  they  will  fall  down  and 
adore  that  great  power  and  majesty.  "  And  it  shall 
come  to  pass,  that  from  one  moon  to  another,  and 
from  one  Sabbath  to  another,  shall  all  flesh  come  to 
worship  before  me,  saith  the  Lord.  And  they  shall 
go  forth  and  look  upon  the  carcasses  of  the  men  that 
have  transgressed  against  me  ;  for  their  worm  shall 
not  die,  neither  shall  their  fire  be  quenched,  and  they 
shall  be  an  abhorring  unto  all  flesh." 

It  is  everlasting  wrath.  It  would  be  dreadful  to 
suffer  this  fierceness  and  wrath  of  Almighty  God  one 


IN    THE    HANDS   OF   AN   ANGRY    GOD.     1 79 

moment  ;  but  you  must  suffer  it  to  all  eternity  :  there 
will  be  no  end  to  this  exquisite,  horrible  misery  : 
when  you  look  forward  you  shall  see  a  long  forever, 
a  boundless  duration  before  you,  which  will  swallow 
up  your  thoughts  and  amaze  your  soul  ;  and  you  will 
absolutely  despair  of  ever  having  any  deliverance,  any 
end,  any  mitigation,  any  rest  at  all  ;  you  will  know 
certainly  that  you  must  wear  out  long  ages,  millions 
and  millions  of  ages,  in  wrestling  and  conflicting  with 
this  Almighty  merciless  vengeance  ;  and  then,  when 
you  have  so  done,  when  so  many  ages  have  actually 
been  spent  by  you  in  this  manner,  you  will  know 
that  all  is  but  a  point  to  what  remains.  So  that 
your  punishment  will  indeed  be  infinite.  Oh,  who 
can  express  what  the  state  of  a  soul  in  such  circum- 
stances is  !  All  that  we  can  possibly  say  about  it 
gives  but  a  very  feeble,  faint  representation  of  it  ;  it 
is  inexpressible  and  inconceivable  :  for  (<  who  knows 
the  power  of  God's  anger  ?  " 

How  dreadful  is  the  state  of  those  that  are  daily 
and  hourly  in  danger  of  this  great  wrath  and  infinite 
misery  !  But  this  is  the  dismal  case  of  every  soul  in 
this  congregation  that  has  not  been  born  again,  how- 
ever moral  and  strict,  sober  and  religious,  they  may 
otherwise  be.  Oh,  that  you  would  consider  it, 
whether  you  be  young  or  old  !  There  is  reason  to 
think  that  there  are  many  in  this  congregation,  now 
hearing  this  discourse,  that  will  actually  be  the  sub- 
jects of  this  very  misery  to  all  eternity.  We  know 
not  who  they  are,  or  in  what  seats  they  sit,  or  what 
thoughts  they  now  have.  It  may  be  they  are  now  at 
ease,  and  hear  all  these  things  without  much  disturb- 
ance, and  are  now  flattering  themselves  that  they  are 


l8o  JONATHAN   EDWARDS. 

not  the  persons  ;  promising  themselves  that  they  shall 
escape.  If  we  knew  that  there  was  one  person,  and 
but  one,  in  the  whole  congregation,  that  was  to  be 
the  subject  of  this  misery,  what  an  awful  thing  it 
would  be  to  think  of!  If  we  knew  who  it  was, 
what  an  awful  sight  would  it  be  to  see  such  a  person  ! 
How  might  all  the  rest  of  the  congregation  lift  up  a 
lamentable  and  bitter  cry  over  him  !  But  alas  !  In- 
stead of  one,  how  many  is  it  likely  will  remember 
this  discourse  in  hell  !  And  it  would  be  a  wonder, 
if  some  that  are  now  present  should  not  be  in  hell  in 
a  very  short  time,  before  this  year  is  out.  And  it 
would  be  no  wonder  if  some  persons,  that  now  sit 
here  in  some  seats  of  this  meeting-house  in  health, 
and  quiet  and  secure,  should  be  there  before  to-morrow 
morning. 


"THE  SIGHT  OF  HELL  TORMENTS 
WILL  EXALT  THE  HAPPINESS  OF  THE 
SAINTS." 

[From    Sermon    XI.    «<  The    Eternity    of    Hell 
Torments."] 

The  sight  of  hell  torments  will  exalt  the  happiness 
of  the  saints  forever.  It  will  not  only  make  them 
more  sensible  of  the  greatness  and  freeness  of  the 
grace  of  God  in  their  happiness  ;  but  it  will  really 
make  their  happiness  the  greater,  as  it  will  make  them 
more  sensible  of  their  own  happiness  ;  it  will  give 
them  a  more  lively  relish  of  it ;   it  will  make  them 


THE   FAREWELL   SERMON.  l8l 

prize  it  more.  When  they  see  others,  who  were  of 
the  same  nature,  and  born  under  the  same  circum- 
stances, plunged  in  such  misery,  and  they  so  distin- 
guished, O  it  will  make  them  sensible  how  happy  they 
are.  A  sense  of  the  opposite  misery,  in  all  cases, 
greatly  increases  the  relish  of  any  joy  or  pleasure. 

The  sight  of  the  wonderful  power,  the  great  and 
dreadful  majesty,  and  awful  justice  and  holiness  of 
God,  manifested  in  the  eternal  punishment  of  ungodly 
men,  will  make  them  prize  his  favor  and  love  vastly 
the  more  ;  and  they  will  be  so  much  the  more  happy 
in  the  enjoyment  of  it. 


FROM    THE    FAREWELL   SERMON. 
[Preached  at  Northampton,  June   22,    1750.] 

My  parting  with  you  is  in  some  respects  in  a  pecul- 
iar manner  a  melancholy  parting  ;  inasmuch  as  I  leave 
you  in  most  melancholy  circumstances  ;  because  I 
leave  you  in  the  gall  of  bitterness,  and  bond  of  in- 
iquity, having  the  wrath  of  God  abiding  on  you,  and 
remaining  under  condemnation  to  everlasting  misery 
and  destruction.  Seeing  I  must  leave  you,  it  would 
have  been  a  comfortable  and  happy  circumstance  of 
our  parting,  if  I  had  left  you  in  Christ,  safe  and 
blessed  in  that  sure  refuge  and  glorious  rest  of  the 
saints.  But  it  is  otherwise.  I  leave  you  far  off, 
aliens  and  strangers,  wretched  subjects  and  captives  of 
sin  and  Satan,  and  prisoners  of  vindictive  justice  ; 
without   Christ,   and  without  God   in   the  world. 

Your  consciences  bear  me  witness,  that  while  I  had 


182  JONATHAN    EDWARDS. 

opportunity,  I  have  not  ceased  to  warn  you,  and  set 
before  you  your  danger.  I  have  studied  to  represent 
the  misery  and  necessity  of  your  circumstances  in  the 
clearest  manner  possible.  I  have  tried  all  ways  that 
I  could  think  of  tending  to  awaken  your  consciences, 
and  make  you  sensible  of  the  necessity  of  your  im- 
proving your  time,  and  being  speedy  in  flying  from 
the  wrath  to  come,  and  thorough  in  the  use  of  means 
for  your  escape  and  safety.  I  have  diligently  endeav- 
ored to  find  out  and  use  the  most  powerful  motives 
to  persuade  you  to  take  care  for  your  own  welfare  and 
salvation.  I  have  not  only  endeavored  to  awaken 
you,  that  you  might  be  moved  with  fear,  but  I  have 
used  my  utmost  endeavors  to  win  you  :  I  have  sought 
out  acceptable  words,  that  if  possible  I  might  prevail 
upon  you  to  forsake  sin,  and  turn  to  God,  and  accept 
of  Christ  as  your  Saviour  and  Lord.  I  have  spent 
my  strength  very  much  in  these  things.  But  yet, 
with  regard  to  you  whom  I  am  novv  speaking  to,  I 
have  not  been  successful  ;  but  have  this  day  reason  to 
complain  in  those  words,  Jer.  6:29:  "  The  bellows 
are  burnt,  the  lead  is  consumed  of  the  fire,  the  founder 
melteth  in  vain,  for  the  wicked  are  not  plucked  away." 
It  is  to  be  feared  that  all  my  labors,  as  to  many  of 
you,  have  served  no  other  purpose  but  to  harden  you  ; 
and  that  the  word  which  I  have  preached,  instead  of 
being  a  savor  of  life  unto  life,  has  been  a  savor  of 
death  unto  death.  Though  I  shall  not  have  any 
account  to  give  for  the  future  of  such  as  have  openly 
and  resolutely  renounced  my  ministry,  as  of  a  betrust- 
ment  committed  to  me  :  yet  remember  you  must  give 
account  for  yourselves,  of  your  care  of  your  own 
souls,  and  your  improvement  of  all   means  past  and 


THE   FAREWELL   SERMON.  1 83 

future,  through  your  whole  lives.  God  only  knows 
what  will  become  of  your  poor  perishing  souls,  what 
means  you  may  hereafter  enjoy,  or  what  disadvantages 
and  temptations  you  may  be  under.  May  God  in 
his  mercy  grant,  that  however  all  past  means  have 
been  unsuccessful,  you  may  have  future  means  which 
may  have  a  new  effect  ;  and  that  the  word  of  God, 
as  it  shall  be  hereafter  dispensed  to  you,  may  prove 
as  the  fire  and  the  hammer  that  breaketh  the  rock  in 
pieces.  However,  let  me  now  at  parting  exhort  and 
beseech  you  not  wholly  to  forget  the  warnings  you 
have  had  while  under  my  ministry.  When  you  and 
I  shall  meet  at  the  day  of  judgment,  then  you  will 
remember  them  :  the  sight  of  me,  your  former  min- 
ister, on  that  occasion,  will  soon  revive  them  to  your 
memory  :  and  that  in  a  very  affecting  manner.  O 
do  not  let  that  be  the  first  time  that  they  are  so 
revived. 

You  and  I  are  now  parting  one  from  another  as  to 
this  world  ;  let  us  labor  that  we  may  not  be  parted 
after  our  meeting  at  the  last  day.  If  I  have  been 
your  faithful  pastor  (which  will  that  day  appear 
whether  I  have  or  no)  then  I  shall  be  acquitted,  and 
shall  ascend  with  Christ.  O  do  your  part  that  in 
such  a  case,  it  may  not  be  so,  that  you  should  be 
forced  eternally  to  part  from  me,  and  all  that  have 
been  faithful  in  Christ  Jesus.  This  is  a  sorrowful 
parting  that  now  is  between  you  and  me,  but  that 
would  be  a  more  sorrowful  parting  to  you  than  this. 
This  you  may  perhaps  bear  without  being  much  af- 
fected with  it,  if  you  are  not  glad  of  it  ;  but  such  a 
parting  in  that  day  will  most  deeply,  sensibly,  and 
dreadfully  affect  you. 


184  JONATHAN    EDWARDS. 

THE    CLOSE    OF    THE    FAREWELL 
SERMON. 

Having  briefly  mentioned  these  important  articles 
of  advice,  nothing  remains,  but  that  I  now  take  my 
leave  of  you,  and  bid  you  all  farewell ;  wishing  and 
praying  for  your  best  prosperity.  I  would  now  com- 
mend your  irmnortal  souls  to  Him,  who  formerly 
committed  them  to  me,  expecting  the  day,  when  1 
must  meet  you  before  Him,  who  is  the  Judge  of  quick 
and  dead.  I  desire  that  I  may  never  forget  this  peo- 
ple, who  have  been  so  long  my  special  charge,  and 
that  I  may  never  cease  fervently  to  pray  for  your 
prosperity.  May  God  bless  you  with  a  faithful 
pastor,  one  that  is  well  acquainted  with  his  mind  and 
will,  thoroughly  warning  sinners,  wisely  and  skill- 
fully searching  professors,  and  conducting  you  in  the 
way  to  eternal  blessedness.  May  you  have  truly  a 
burning  and  shining  light  set  up  in  this  candlestick  ; 
and  may  you,  not  only  for  a  season,  but  during  his 
whole  life,  and  that  a  long  life,  be  willing  to  rejoice 
in  his  light. 

And  let  me  be  remembered  in  the  prayers  of  all 
God's  people  that  are  of  a  calm  spirit,  and  are  peace- 
able and  faithful  in  Israel,  of  whatever  opinion  they 
may  be  with  respect  to  terms  of  church  communion. 

And  let  us  all  remember,  and  never  forget  our 
future  solemn  meeting  on  that  great  day  of  the  Lord  ; 
the  day  of  infallible  decision,  and  of  the  everlasting 
and  unalterable  sentence.      Amen. 


THE   MEANING   OF    LIBERTY.         1 85 

THE   MEANING    OF   LIBERTY. 
[From   "Freedom  of  the  Will."      1754.] 

The  plain  and  obvious  meaning  of  the  words 
Freedom  and  Liberty,  in  common  speech,  is  power y 
opportunity,  or  advantage  that  any  one  has,  to  do  as 
he  pleases.  Or,  in  other  words,  his  being  free  from 
hindrance  or  impediment  in  the  way  of  doing,  or 
conducting  in  any  respect,  as  he  wills.  (I  say  not 
only  doing,  but  conducting  ;  because  a  voluntary 
forbearing  to  do,  sitting  still,  keeping  silence,  etc., 
are  instances  of  persons'  conduct,  about  which  Liberty 
is  exercised  ;  though  they  are  not  so  properly  called 
doing).  And  the  contrary  to  Liberty,  whatever 
name  we  call  that  by,  is  a  person's  being  hindered 
or  unable  to  conduct  as  he  will,  or  being  necessitated 
to  do  otherwise. 

If  this  which  I  have  mentioned  be  the  meaning  of 
the  word  Liberty,  in  the  ordinary  use  of  language  ; 
as  I  trust  that  none  that  has  ever  learned  to  talk,  and 
is  unprejudiced,  will  deny  :  then  it  will  follow  that 
in  propriety  of  speech  neither  Liberty,  nor  its  con- 
trary, can  properly  be  ascribed  to  any  being  or  thing, 
but  that  which  has  such  a  faculty,  power  or  property, 
as  is  called  will.  For  that  which  is  possessed  of  no 
such  thing  as  will,  cannot  have  any  power  or  oppor- 
tunity of  doing  according  to  its  will,  nor  be  necessi- 
tated to  act  contrary  to  its  will,  nor  be  restrained  from 
acting  agreeably  to  it.  And  therefore  to  talk  of 
Liberty,  or  the  contrary,  as  belonging  to  the  very 
will  itself,  is  not  to  speak  good  sense  ;  if  we  judge 


I  86  JONATHAN    EDWARDS. 

of  sense,  and  nonsense,  by  the  original  and  proper 
signification  of  words.  For  the  will  itself  is  not  an 
agent  that  has  a  will  :  the  power  of  choosing  itself, 
has  not  a  power  of  choosing.  That  which  has 
the  power  of  volition  or  choice  is  the  man  or  the 
soul,  and  not  the  power  of  volition  itself.  And  he 
that  has  the  Liberty  of  doing  according  to  his  will, 
is  the  agent  or  doer  who  is  possessed  of  the  will  ; 
and  not  the  will  which  he  is  possessed  of.  We  say 
with  propriety,  that  a  bird  let  loose  has  power  and 
Liberty  to  fly  ;  but  not  that  the  bird's  power  of 
flying  has  a  power  and  Liberty  of  flying.  To  be 
free  is  the  property  of  an  agent,  who  is  possessed  of 
powers  and  faculties,  as  much  as  to  be  cunning,  valiant, 
bountiful,  or  zealous.  But  these  qualities  are  the 
properties  of  men  or  persons  and  not  the  properties 
of  properties. 

There  are  two  things  that  are  contrary  to  this 
which  is  called  Liberty  in  common  speech.  One  is 
constraint  ;  the  same  is  otherwise  called  force,  com- 
pulsion, and  coaction  ;  which  is  a  person's  being 
necessitated  to  do  a  thing  contrary  to  his  will.  The 
other  is  restraint  ;  which  is  his  being  hindered,  and 
not  having  power  to  do  according  to  his  will.  But 
that  which  has  no  will,  cannot  be  the  subject  of  these 
things.  I  need  say  the  less  on  this  head,  Mr.  Locke 
having  set  the  same  thing  forth,  with  so  great  clear- 
ness, in  his  Essay  on  the  Human  Understanding. 

But  one  thing  more  I  would  observe  concerning 
what  is  vulgarly  called  Liberty  ;  namely,  that  power 
and  opportunity  for  one  to  do  and  conduct  as  he  will, 
or  according  to  his  choice,  is  all  that  is  meant  by  it ; 
without  taking   into  the  meaning  of  the  word   any- 


INSUFFICIENCY  OF  HUMAN  WISDOM.     I  87 

thing  of  the  cause  or  original  of  that  choice  ;  or  at 
all  considering  how  the  person  came  to  have  such  a 
volition  ;  whether  it  was  caused  by  some  external 
motive  or  internal  habitual  bias  ;  whether  it  was 
determined  by  some  internal  antecedent  volition,  or 
whether  it  happened  without  a  cause  ;  whether  it  was 
necessarily  connected  with  something  foregoing,  or 
not  connected.  Let  the  person  come  by  his  volition 
or  choice  how  he  will,  yet,  if  he  is  able,  and  there 
is  nothing  in  the  way  to  hinder  his  pursuing  and  exe- 
cuting his  will,  the  man  is  fully  and  perfectly  free, 
according  to  the  primary  and  common  notion  of 
freedom. 


THE    INSUFFICIENCY   OF    HUMAN 
WISDOM. 

[From  "The  Work  of  Redemption."     Part  II. 
Section  1.      Pub.    1793.] 

God  in  his  providence  now  seems  to  be  acting 
over  again  the  same  part  which  he  did  a  little  time 
before  Christ  came.  The  age  wherein  Christ  came 
into  the  world,  was  an  age  wherein  learning  greatly 
prevailed,  and  was  at  a  greater  height  than  ever  it 
had  been  before  ;  and  yet  wickedness  never  prevailed 
more  than  then.  God  was  pleased  to  suffer  human 
learning  to  come  to  such  a  height  before  he  sent  forth 
the  gospel  into  the  world,  that  the  world  might  see 
the  insufficiency  of  all  their  own  wisdom  for  the 
obtaining  the  knowledge  of  God,  without  the  gospel 
of  Christ,  and  the  teachings  of  his  Spirit  :  and  when, 
after   that,    in    the   wisdom    of  God,  the   world   by 


I  88  JONATHAN    EDWARDS. 

wisdom  knew  not  God,  it  pleased  God,  by  the 
foolishness  of  preaching,  to  save  them  that  believe. 
And  when  the  gospel  came  to  prevail  first  without 
the  help  of  man's  wisdom,  then  God  was  pleased  to 
make  use  of  learning  as  a  handmaid.  So  now  learn- 
ing is  at  a  great  height  at  this  day  in  the  world,  far 
beyond  what  it  was  in  the  age  when  Christ  appeared  : 
and  now  the  world,  by  their  learning  and  wisdom, 
do  not  know  God  ;  and  they  seem  to  wander  in 
darkness,  are  miserably  deluded,  stumble  and  fall  in 
matters  of  religion,  as  in  midnight  darkness.  Trust- 
ing to  their  learning,  they  grope  in  the  day-time  as 
at  night.  Learned  men  are  exceedingly  divided  in 
their  opinions  concerning  the  matters  of  religion,  run 
into  all  manner  of  corrupt  opinions,  pernicious  and 
foolish  errors.  They  scorn  to  submit  their  reason 
to  divine  revelation,  to  believe  anything  that  is  above 
their  comprehension  ;  and  so,  being  wise  in  their 
own  eyes,  they  become  fools,  and  even  vain  in  their 
imaginations,  and  turn  the  truth  of  God  into  a  lie, 
and  their  foolish  hearts  are  darkened.  See  Rom.  1:21. 
But  yet,  when  God  has  sufficiently  shown  men 
the  insufficiency  of  human  wisdom  and  learning  for 
the  purposes  of  religion,  and  when  the  appointed 
time  comes  for  that  glorious  outpouring  of  the  Spirit 
of  God,  when  he  will  himself,  by  his  own  immediate 
influence  enlighten  men's  minds  ;  then  may  we  hope 
that  God  will  make  use  of  the  great  increase  of  learn- 
ing as  a  handmaid  to  religion,  as  a  means  of  the 
glorious  advancement  of  the  kingdom  of  his  Son. 
Then  shall  human  learning  be  subservient  to  the 
understanding  of  the  Scriptures,  and  to  a  clear  ex- 
planation and  a  glorious  defence  of  the  doctrines  of 


INSUFFICIENCY  OF  HUMAN  WISDOM.    1 89 

Christianity.  And  there  is  no  doubt  to  be  made  of 
it,  that  God  in  his  providence  has  of  late  given  the 
world  the  art  of  printing,  and  such  a  great  increase 
of  learning,  to  prepare  for  what  he  designs  to  ac- 
complish for  his  church  in  the  approaching  days  of 
its  prosperity.  And  thus  the  wealth  of  the  wicked 
is  laid  up  for  the  just,  agreeable  to  Prov.  13  :  22. 


BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

Benjamin  Franklin  requires  no  extended  biographi- 
cal notice  here.  It  is  not  the  diplomat  that  concerns 
us,  but  the  representative  of  the  eighteenth-century 
spirit  as  it  shows  itself  in  the  social  activities  of  the 
colonial  printer.  Franklin  was  born  in  Boston, 
January  17,  1706,  and  apprenticed  there  to  his 
brother,  a  printer.  But  he  ran  away  at  seventeen, 
and,  thrown  quite  on  his  own  resources  in  Philadel- 
phia, rose  by  native  shrewdness  and  energy,  attracted 
patronage,  was  sent  to  London  ( 1724),  readily  found 
employment  there,  returned  to  Philadelphia  in  1726, 
resumed  his  trade  as  printer,  soon  started  in  business 
for  himself,  and  in  1729  purchased  the  moribund 
Pennsylvania  Gazette  which,  by  industry  and  good 
sense,  he  put  at  the  head  of  American  journals.  In 
1 73 1  he  established  the  first  American  circulating 
library,  in  1732  he  published  the  first  of  Poor 
Richard's  Almanacs,  which,  in  the  course  of  a 
quarter  of  a  century  attained  a  marvellous  popularity. 
In  1736  he  was  chosen  clerk  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly, of  which  he  was  a  member  from  1738  to  1748. 
In  1737  he  was  made  deputy  Postmaster  at  Philadel- 
phia. Constantly  occupied  for  the  public  welfare,  he 
organized  the  first  police  force  and  fire  company  in 
the  colonies,  initiated  the  foundation  of  the  University 
190 


BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN.  191 

of  Pennsylvania,  of  the  American  Philosophical  So- 
ciety, and  of  the  Pennsylvania  Hospital.  Indeed  he 
initiated  or  furthered  nearly  every  project  of  munici- 
pal improvement  in  the  Philadelphia  of  his  generation, 
acquiring  meantime  familiarity  with  French,  Italian, 
Spanish,  and  Latin,  and  making  important  discoveries 
in  electricity,  which  attracted  attention  first  in  France, 
then  in  England.  At  the  time  of  the  French  War 
(1754)  Franklin  was  the  most  important  man  in 
Pennsylvania,  and  its  representative  in  a  colonial  con- 
gress, to  which  he  submitted  a  scheme  for  united 
action  which,  though  not  adopted,  was  most  impor- 
tant as  a  precedent.  He  assisted  General  Braddock, 
though  with  forebodings  of  his  defeat  ;  was  sent  as 
colonial  agent  to_  England  (1757),  where  he  re- 
mained until  1762,  except  for  protracted  visits  to  the 
Continent.  He  again  visited  England  as  colonial 
agent  in  1764,  and  remained  there  until  1775.  On 
his  return  he  was  immediately  elected  delegate  to  the 
Continental  Congress,  and  sent  in  1776  to  France  to 
solicit  the  aid  of  Louis  XVI.  Here  he  remained  un- 
til 1785  ;  then  for  three  years  he  was  President  of 
Pennsylvania,  and,  until  his  death  on  the  17th  of 
April,  1790,  continued  to  give  himself  to  public  activi- 
ties, of  which  the  most  noteworthy  was  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  first  society  for  the  abolition  of  slavery. 
Though  not  primarily  a  man  of  letters,  Franklin  is  the 
greatest  of  our  colonial  writers,  and  one  of  the  great- 
est of  all  American  authors.  His  Autobiography  is 
a  classic  ;  and  his  political  wisdom,  his  rare  common- 
sense,  his  balanced  sanity,  his  engaging  humor,  his 
scientific  discoveries,  are  all  many-faceted  revelations 
of  a  fascinating  and  great  character,  more  typical  per- 


192  BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

haps  of  his  century  than  of  his  race  or  country,  though 
he  was  thoroughly  American,  and  an  ideal  citizen. 
It  is  to  illustrate  this  social  aspect  of  his  genius  that 
our  extracts,  in  the  main,  have  been  chosen. 


FIRST    ENTRY    INTO    PHILADELPHIA. 

...  I  was  in  my  working  dress,  my  best  clothes 
being  to  come  round  by  sea.  I  was  dirty  from  my 
journey  ;  my  pockets  were  stuffed  out  with  shirts  and 
stockings,  and  I  knew  no  soul,  nor  where  to  look  for 
lodging.  I  was  fatigued  with  traveling,  rowing,  and 
want  of  rest  ;  I  was  very  hungry  ;  and  my  whole 
stock  of  cash  consisted  of  a  Dutch  dollar  and  about  a 
shilling  in  copper.  The  latter  I  gave  the  people  of 
the  boat  for  my  passage,  who  at  first  refused  it,  on 
account  of  my  rowing  ;  but  I  insisted  on  their  taking 
it,  a  man  being  sometimes  more  generous  when  he 
has  but  a  little  money  than  when  he  has  plenty,  per- 
haps through  fear  of  being  thought  to  have  but  little. 

Then  I  walked  up  the  street,  gazing  about,  till 
near  the  market  house  I  met  a  boy  with  bread.  I 
had  made  many  a  meal  on  bread,  and,  inquiring 
where  he  got  it,  I  went  immediately  to  the  baker's 
he  directed  me  to,  in  Second  Street,  and  asked  for 
biscuit,  intending  such  as  we  had  in  Boston  ;  but 
they,  it  seems,  were  not  made  in  Philadelphia. 
Then  I  asked  for  a  threepenny  loaf,  and  was  told 
they  had  none  such.  So  not  considering  or  knowing 
the  difference  of  money  and  the  greater  cheapness, 
nor  the  names  of  his  bread,  I  bade  him  give  me 
threepenny  worth  of  any  sort.      He  gave  me,  accord- 


EXPANDING   THE    CURRENCY.         1 93 

ingly,  three  great  puffy  rolls.  I  was  surprised  at  the 
quantity,  but  took  it,  and,  having  no  room  in  my 
pockets,  walked  off  with  a  roll  under  each  arm,  and 
eating  the  other.  Thus  I  went  up  Market  Street  as 
far  as  Fourth  Street,  passing  by  the  door  of  Mr.  Read, 
my  future  wife's  father  ;  when  she,  standing  at  the 
door,  saw  me,  and  thought  I  made,  as  I  certainly 
did,  a  most  awkward,  ridiculous  appearance.  Then 
I  turned  and  went  down  Chestnut  Street  and  part  of 
Walnut  Street,  eating  my  roll  all  the  way,  and,  com- 
ing round,  found  myself  again  at  Market  Street  wharf, 
near  the  boat  I  came  in,  to  which  I  went  for  a 
draught  of  the  river  water  ;  and,  being  filled  with  one 
of  my  rolls,  gave  the  other  two  to  a  woman  and  her 
child  that  came  down  the  river  in  the  boat  with  us, 
and  were  waiting  to  go  farther. 


EXPANDING   THE    CURRENCY. 

1729.  About  this  time  there  was  a  cry  among 
the  people  for  more  paper  money,  only  fifteen  thou- 
sand pounds  being  extant  in  the  province,  and  that 
soon  to  be  sunk.  The  wealthy  inhabitants  opposed 
any  addition,  being  against  all  paper  currency,  from 
an  apprehension  that  it  would  depreciate,  as  it  had 
done  in  New  England,  to  the  prejudice  of  all  credi- 
tors. We  had  discussed  this  point  in  our  Junto, 
where  I  was  on  the  side  of  an  addition,  being  per- 
suaded that  the  first  small  sum  struck  in  1723  had 
done  much  good  by  increasing  the  trade,  employ- 
ment, and  number  of  inhabitants  in  the  province,  since 
I  now  saw  all  the  old  houses  inhabited  and  many  new 


194  BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

ones  building  ;  whereas,  I  remembered  well  that  when 
I  first  walked  about  the  streets  of  Philadelphia,  eating 
my  roll,  I  saw  most  of  the  houses  in  Walnut  Street, 
between  Second  and  Front  Streets,  with  bills  on  their 
doors,  u  To  be  Let  :  "  and  many  likewise  in  Chest- 
nut Street  and  other  streets,  which  made  me  then 
think  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  were  deserting  it  one 
after  another. 

Our  debates  possessed  me  so  fully  of  the  subject 
that  I  wrote  and  printed  an  anonymous  pamphlet  on 
it,  entitled,  "  The  Nature  and  Necessity  of  a  Paper 
Currency."  It  was  well  received  by  the  common 
people  in  general  ;  but  the  rich  men  dislike  it,  for  it 
increased  and  strengthened  the  clamor  for  more  money, 
and  they,  happening  to  have  no  writers  among  them 
that  were  able  to  answer  it,  their  opposition  slack- 
ened, and  the  point  was  carried  by  a  majority  in  the 
House.  My  friends  there,  who  conceived  I  had  been 
of  some  service,  thought  fit  to  reward  me  by  employ- 
ing me  in  printing  the  money,  —  a  very  profitable 
job  and  a  great  help  to  me.  This  was  another  ad- 
vantage gained  by  my  being  able  to  write. 

The  utility  of  this  currency  became  by  time  and 
experience  so  evident  as  never  afterward  to  be  much 
disputed  ;  so  that  it  grew  soon  to  fifty-five  thousand 
pounds,  and  in  1739  to  eighty  thousand  pounds,  since 
which  it  rose  during  war  to  upward  of  three  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  pounds,  trade,  building,  and  inhab- 
itants all  the  while  increasing,  though  I  now  think 
there  are  limits,  beyond  which  the  quantity  may  be 
hurtful. 


FIRST   CIRCULATING   LIBRARY.       1 95 


A    COLONIAL  POST-OFFICE. 

1729.  There  remained  now  no  competitor  with 
me  at  Philadelphia  but  the  old  one,  Bradford,  who 
was  rich  and  easy,  did  a  little  printing  now  and  then 
by  straggling  hands,  but  was  not  very  anxious  about 
the  business.  However,  as  he  kept  the  post  office, 
it  was  imagined  he  had  better  opportunities  of  obtain- 
ing news.  His  paper  was  thought  a  better  distributer 
of  advertisements  than  mine,  and  therefore  had  many 
more,  which  was  a  profitable  thing  to  him,  and  a  dis- 
advantage to  me  ;  for,  though  I  did  indeed  receive 
and  send  papers  by  post,  yet  the  public  opinion  was 
otherwise,  for  what  I  did  send  was  by  bribing  the 
riders,  who  took  them  privately,  Bradford  being  un- 
kind enough  to  forbid  it,  which  occasioned  some  re- 
sentment on  my  part  ;  and  I  thought  so  meanly  of 
him  for  it  that,  when  I  afterward  came  into  his  situa- 
tion, I  took  care  never  to  imitate  it. 


ORGANIZING  THE  FIRST  CIRCULATING 
LIBRARY. 

1  730.  At  the  time  I  established  myself  in  Pennsyl- 
vania there  was  not  a  good  bookseller's  shop  in  any  of 
the  colonies  to  the  southward  of  Boston.  In  New  York 
and  Philadelphia  the  printers  were  indeed  stationers  ; 
they  sold  only  paper,  etc.,  almanacs,  ballads,  and  a 
few  common  schoolbooks.  Those  who  loved  reading 
were  obliged  to  send  for  their  books  from  England  ; 


I96  BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

the  members  of  the  Junto  had  each  a  few.  We  had 
left  the  alehouse  where  we  first  met,  and  hired  a  room 
to  hold  our  club  in.  I  proposed  that  we  should 
all  of  us  bring  our  books  to  that  room,  where 
they  would  not  only  be  ready  to  consult  in  our  con- 
ferences, but  become  a  common  benefit,  each  of  us 
being  at  liberty  to  borrow  such  as  he  wished  to  read 
at  home.  This  was  accordingly  done,  and  for  some 
time  contented  us. 

Finding  the  advantage  of  this  little  collection,  I 
proposed  to  render  the  benefit  from  books  more 
common  by  commencing  a  public  subscription  library. 
I  drew  a  sketch  of  the  plan  and  rules  that  would  be 
necessary,  and  got  a  skillful  conveyancer,  Mr.  Charles 
Brockden,  to  put  the  whole  in  form  of  articles  of 
agreement  to  be  subscribed,  by  which  each  subscriber 
engaged  to  pay  a  certain  sum  down  for  the  first  pur- 
chase of  books,  and  an  annual  contribution  for  increas- 
ing them.  So  few  were  the  readers  at  that  time  in 
Philadelphia,  and  the  majority  of  us  so  poor,  that  I 
was  not  able,  with  great  industry,  to  find  more  than 
fifty  persons,  mostly  young  tradesmen,  willing  to  pay 
down  for  this  purpose  forty  shillings  each  and  ten 
shillings  per  annum. 

On  this  little  fund  we  began.  The  books  were 
imported  ;  the  library  was  opened  one  day  in  the 
week  for  lending  to  the  subscribers,  on  their  prom- 
issory notes  to  pay  double  the  value  if  not  duly 
returned.  The  institution  soon  manifested  its  utility, 
was  imitated  by  other  towns  and  in  other  provinces. 
The  libraries  were  augmented  by  donations  ;  reading 
became  fashionable  ;  and  our  people,  having  no  public 
amusements  to  divert  their  attention  from  study,  became 


FIRST   CIRCULATING    LIBRARY.       197 

better  acquainted  with  books,  and  in  a  few  years  were 
observed  by  strangers  to  be  better  instructed  and  more 
intelligent  than  people  of  the  same  rank  generally  are 
in  other  countries. 

When  we  were  about  to  sign  the  above-mentioned 
articles,  which  were  to  be  binding  on  us,  our  heirs, 
etc.,  for  fifty  years,  Mr.  Brockden,  the  scrivener,  said 
to  us  :  '*  You  are  young  men,  but  it  is  scarcely  prob- 
able that  any  of  you  will  live  to  see  the  expiration  of 
the  term  fixed  in  the  instrument."  A  number  of  us, 
however,  are  yet  living  ;  but  the  instrument  was,  after 
a  few  years,  [1742.]  rendered  null  by  a  charter  that 
incorporated  and  gave  perpetuity  to  the  company. 

The  objections  and  reluctances  I  met  with  in  solicit- 
ing the  subcriptions  made  me  soon  feel  the  impropriety 
of  presenting  one's  self  as  the  proposer  of  any  useful 
project  that  might  be  supposed  to  raise  one's  reputation 
in  the  smallest  degree  above  that  of  one's  neighbors, 
when  one  has  need  of  their  assistance  to  accomplish 
that  project.  I  therefore  put  myself  as  much  as  I 
could  out  of  sight,  and  stated  it  as  a  scheme  of  a 
"number  of  friends,"  who  had  requested  me  to  go 
about  and  propose.it  to  such  as  they  thought  lovers  of 
reading.  In  this  way  my  affair  went  on  more  smoothly, 
and  I  ever  after  practiced  it  on  such  occasions,  and, 
from  my  frequent  successes,  can  heartily  recommend 
it.  The  present  little  sacrifice  of  your  vanity  will 
afterward  be  amply  repaid.  If  it  remains  awhile  un- 
certain to  whom  the  merit  belongs,  some  one  more  vain 
than  yourself  will  be  encouraged  to  claim  it,  and  then 
even  envy  will  be  disposed  to  do  you  justice  by  pluck- 
ing those  assumed  feathers,  and  restoring  them  to  their 
right  owner. 


198  BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

This  library  afforded  me  the  means  of  improvement 
by  constant  study,  for  which  I  set  apart  an  hour  or 
two  each  day,  and  thus  repaired  in  some  degree  the 
loss  of  the  learned  education  my  father  once  intended 
for  me.  Reading  was  the  only  amusement  I  allowed 
myself. 


THE   DOMESTIC    FRANKLIN. 

We  have  an  English  proverb  that  says,  '«  He  that 
would  thrive  must  ask  his  wife."  It  was  lucky  for 
me  that  I  had  one  as  much  disposed  to  industry  and 
frugality  as  myself.  She  assisted  me  cheerfully  in  my 
business,  folding  and  stitching  pamphlets,  tending  shop, 
purchasing  old  linen  rags  for  the  paper  makers,  etc. 
We  kept  no  idle  servants,  our  table  was  plain  and 
simple,  our  furniture  of  the  cheapest.  For  instance, 
my  breakfast  was  a  long  time  bread  and  milk  (no  tea), 
and  I  ate  it  out  of  a  two-penny  earthen  porringer, 
with  a  pewter  spoon.  But  mark  how  luxury  will 
enter  families  and  make  a  progress  in  spite  of  principle. 
Being  called  one  morning  to  breakfast,  I  found  it  in  a 
china  bowl  with  a  spoon  of  silver  !  They  had  been 
bought  for  me  without  my  knowledge  by  my  wife,  and 
had  cost  her  the  enormous  sum  of  three-and-twenty 
shillings,  for  which  she  had  no  other  excuse  or  apology 
to  make  but  that  she  thought  her  husband  deserved  a 
silver  spoon  and  a  china  bowl  as  well  as  any  of  his 
neighbors.  This  was  the  first  appearance  of  plate 
and  china  in  our  house,  which  afterward,  in  a  course 
of  years,  as  our  wealth  increased,  augmented  gradually 
to  several  hundred  pounds  in  value. 


FRANKLIN'S    RELIGION.  1 99 


FRANKLIN'S    RELIGION. 

I  had  been  religiously  educated  as  a  Presbyterian; 
and,  though  I  early  absented  myself  from  the  public 
assemblies  of  the. sect,  Sunday  being  my  studying  day, 
I  never  was  without  some  religious  principles.  I  never 
doubted,  for  instance,  the  existence  of  the  Deity  ;  that 
he  made  the  world,  and  governed  it  by  his  providence ; 
that  the  most  acceptable  service  of  God  was  the  doing 
good  to  man ;  that  our  souls  are  immortal  ;  and  that 
all  crime  will  be  punished,  and  virtue  rewarded,  either 
here  or  hereafter.  These  I  esteemed  the  essentials 
of  every  religion  ;  and  being  to  be  found  in  all  the 
religions  we  had  in  our  country,  I  respected  them  all, 
though  with  different  degrees  of  respect  as  I  found 
them  more  or  less  mixed  with  other  articles  which, 
without  any  tendency  to  inspire,  promote,  or  con- 
firm morality,  served  principally  to  divide  us,  and 
make  us  unfriendly  to  one  another.  This  respect  to 
all,  with  an  opinion  that  the  worst  had  some  good 
effects,  induced  me  to  avoid  all  discourse  that  might 
tend  to  lessen  the  good  opinion  another  might  have 
of  his  own  religion ;  and  as  our  province  increased  in 
people,  and  new  places  of  worship  were  continually 
wanted,  and  generally  erected  by  voluntary  contribu- 
tion, my  mite  for  such  purpose,  whatever  might  be 
the  sect,  was  never  refused. 

Though  I  seldom  attended  any  public  worship,  I 
had  still  an  opinion  of  its  propriety  and  of  its  utility 
when  rightly  conducted,  and  I  regularly  paid  my 
annual  subscription  for  the  support  of  the  only  Pres- 
byterian minister  or  meeting  we  had  in  Philadelphia. 


200  BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

He  used  to  visit  me  sometimes  as  a  friend,  and  ad- 
monish me  to  attend  his  administrations,  and  I  was 
now  and  then  prevailed  on  to  do  so,  once  for  five 
Sundays  successively.  Had  he  been  in  my  opinion 
a  good  preacher,  perhaps  I  might  have  continued, 
notwithstanding  the  occasion  I  had  for  the  Sunday's 
leisure  in  my  course  of  study  ;  but  his  discourses  were 
chiefly  either  polemic  arguments  or  explications  of  the 
peculiar  doctrines  of  our  sect,  and  were  all  to  me  very 
dry,  uninteresting,  and  unedifying,  since  not  a  single 
moral  principle  was  inculcated  or  enforced/their  aim 
seeming  to  be  rather  to  make  us  Presbyterians  than 
good  citizens.,. 

At  length  he  took  for  his  text  that  verse  of  the 
fourth  chapter  of  Philippians  :  '*  Finally,  brethren, 
whatsoever  things  are  true,  whatsoever  things  are 
honest,  whatsoever  things  are  just,  whatsoever  things 
are  pure,  whatsoever  things  are  lovely,  whatsoever 
things  are  of  good  report ;  if  there  be  any  virtue,  and 
if  there  be  any  praise,  think  on  these  things ;  "  and  I 
imagined,  in  a  sermon  on  such  a  text,  we  could  not 
miss  of  having  some  morality.  But  he  confined  him- 
self to  five  points  only,  as  meant  by  the  apostle  : 
I.  Keeping  holy  the  Sabbath  day.  2.  Being  dili- 
gent in  reading  the  holy  Scriptures.  3.  Attending 
duly  the  public  worship.  4.  Partaking  of  the  sacra- 
ment. 5.  Paying  a  due  respect  to  God's  ministers. 
These  might  be  all  good  things  ;  but,  as  they  were 
not  the  kind  of  good  things  that  I  expected  from  that 
text,  I  despaired  of  ever  meeting  with  them  from  any 
other,  was  disgusted,  and  attended  his  preaching  no 
more.  I  had  some  years  before  composed  a  little 
liturgy,  or  form  of  prayer,  for  my  own  private  use 


THE   ALMANACS.  201 

[in  1728],  entitled  "Articles  of  Belief  and  Acts  of 
Religion."  I  returned  to  the  use  of  this,  and  went 
no  more  to  the  public  assemblies.  My  conduct  might 
be  blamable,  but  I  leave  it  without  attempting  further 
to  excuse  it,  my  present  purpose  being  to  relate  facts, 
and  not  to  make  apologies  for  them. 


THE   ALMANACS. 

In  1732  I  first  published  my  Almanac,  under  the 
name  of  *«  Richard  Saunders ;  "  it  was  continued  by 
me  about  twenty-five  years,  and  commonly  called 
"  Poor  Richard's  Almanac."  I  endeavored  to  make 
it  both  entertaining  and  useful,  and  it  accordingly 
came  to  be  in  such  demand  that  I  reaped  considerable 
profit  from  it,  vending  annually  near  ten  thousand. 
And  observing  that  it  was  generally  read,  scarce  any 
neighborhood  in  the  province  being  without  it,  I  con- 
sidered it  as  a  proper  vehicle  for  conveying  instruction 
among  the  common  people,  who  bought  scarcely  any 
other  books.  I  therefore  filled  all  the  little  spaces 
that  occurred  between  the  remarkable  days  in  the 
calendar  with  proverbial  sentences,  chiefly  such  as 
inculcated  industry  and  frugality  as  the  means  of  pro- 
curing wealth,  and  thereby  securing  virtue  ;  it  being 
more  difficult  for  a  man  in  want  to  act  always  hon- 
estly, as  (to  use  here  one  of  those  proverbs),  '*  it  is 
hard  for  an  empty  sack  to  stand  upright." 

These  proverbs,  which  contained  the  wisdom  of 
many  ages  and  nations,  I  assembled  and  formed  into 
a  connected  discourse,   prefixed  to  the  Almanac  of 


202  BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

1757  as  the  harangue  of  a  wise  old  man  to  the  people 
attending  an  auction.  The  bringing  all  these  scat- 
tered counsels  thus  into  a  focus  enabled  them  to  make 
greater  impression.  The  piece,  being  universally  ap- 
proved, was  copied  in  all  the  newspapers  of  the  Con- 
tinent, reprinted  in  Britain  on  a  broadside,  to  be  stuck 
up  in  houses,  two  translations  were  made  of  it  in 
French,  and  great  numbers  bought  by  the  clergy  and 
gentry  to  distribute  gratis  among  their  poor  parish- 
ioners and  tenants.  In  Pennsylvania,  as  it  discour- 
aged useless  expense  in  foreign  superfluities,  some 
thought  it  had  its  share  of  influence  in  producing  that 
growing  plenty  of  money  which  was  observable  for 
several  years  after  its  publication. 


THE    WAY   TO    WEALTH, 

As     CLEARLY     SHOWN      IN      THE     PREFACE     OF     AN      OLD 

Pennsylvania  Almanac  entitled   f*  Poor    Rich- 
ard Improved." 

Courteous  Reader  :  I  have  heard  that  nothing 
gives  an  author  so  great  pleasure  as  to  find  his  works 
respectfully  quoted  by  other  learned  authors.  This 
pleasure  I  have  seldom  enjoyed  ;  for,  though  I  have 
been,  if  I  may  say  it  without  vanity,  an  eminent 
author  (of  almanacs)  annually,  now  a  full  quarter  of 
a  century,  my  brother  authors  in  the  same  way,  for 
what  reason  I  know  not,  have  ever  been  very  sparing 
in  their  applauses  and  no  other  author  has  taken  the 
least  notice  of  me  ;  so  that,  did  not  my  writings  pro- 


THE   WAY    TO    WEALTH.  203 

duce  me  some  solid  pudding,  the  great  deficiency  of 
praise  would  have  quite  discouraged  me. 

I  concluded  at  length  that  the  people  were  the  best 
judges  of  my  merit,  for  they  buy  my  works  ;  and, 
besides,  in  my  rambles  where  I  am  not  personally 
known,  I  have  frequently  heard  one  or  other  of  my 
adages  repeated  with  **  As  Poor  Richard  says"  at 
the  end  of  it.  This  gave  me  some  satisfaction,  as  it 
showed  not  only  that  my  instructions  were  regarded, 
but  discovered  likewise  some  respect  for  my  authority  ; 
and  I  own  that,  to  encourage  the  practice  of  remem- 
bering and  reading  those  wise  sentences,  I  have  some- 
times quoted  myself  with  great  gravity. 

Judge,  then,  how  much  I  must  have  been  gratified 
by  an  incident  I  am  going  to  relate  to  you.  I  stopped 
my  horse  lately  where  a  great  number  of  people  were 
collected  at  an  auction  of  merchants'  goods.  The 
hour  of  the  sale  not  being  come,  they  were  conversing 
on  the  badness  of  the  times  ;  and  one  of  the  com- 
pany called  to  a  plain,  clean  old  man  with  white 
locks,  '*  Pray,  Father  Abraham,  what  think  you  of 
the  times  ?  Will  not  these  heavy  taxes  quite  ruin  the 
country  ?  How  shall  we  ever  be  able  to  pay  them  ? 
What  would  you  advise  us  to  do?"  Father  Abra- 
ham stood  up  and  replied,  "  If  you  would  have  my 
advice,  I  will  give  it  to  you  in  short  ;  for  A  word  to 
the  wise  is  enough,  as  Poor  Richard  says."  They 
joined  in  desiring  him  to  speak  his  mind,  and  gather- 
ing around  him,  he  proceeded  as  follows  : 

"Friends,"  said  he,  "the  taxes -are  indeed  very 
heavy,  and  if  those  laid  on  by  the  government  were 
the  only  ones  we  had  to  pay,  we  might  more  easily 
discharge  them  ;   but  we  have  many  others,  and  much 


204  BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

more  grievous  to  some  of  us.  We  are  taxed  twice 
as  much  by  our  idleness,  three  times  as  much  by  our 
pride,  and  four  times  as  much  by  our  folly  ;  and  from 
these  taxes  the  commissioners  cannot  ease  or  deliver  us 
by  allowing  an  abatement.  However,  let  us  hearken  to 
good  advice,  and  something  may  be  done  for  us  ;  God 
helps  them  that  help  themselves,  as  Poor  Richard  says. 
I.  "It  would  be  thought  a  hard  government  that 
should  tax  its  people  one  tenth  part  of  their  time,  to 
be  employed  in  its  service  ;  but  idleness  taxes  many 
of  us  much  more  ;  sloth,  by  bringing  on  diseases, 
absolutely  shortens  life.  Sloth,  like  rust,  consumes 
faster  than  labor  wears,  while  The  used  key  is  always 
bright,  as  Poor  Richard  says.  But  dost  thou  love 
life  ?  Then  do  not  squander  time,  for  that  is  the  stuff 
life  is  made  of,  as  Poor  Richard  says.  How  much 
more  than  is  necessary  do  we  spend  in  sleep,  forget- 
ting that  the  sleeping  fox  catches  no  poultry,  and  that 
there  will  be  sleeping  enough  in  the  grave,  as  Poor 
Richard  says.  If  time  be  of  all  things  the  most  pre- 
cious, wasting  time  must  be,  as  Poor  Richard  says, 
the  greatest  prodigality  ;  since,  as  he  elsewhere  tells 
us,  Lost  time  is  never  found  again,  and  what  we  call 
time  enough  always  proves  little  enough.  Let  us, 
then,  be  up  and  be  doing,  and  doing  to  the  purpose  ; 
so  by  diligence  shall  we  do  more  with  less  perplexity. 
Sloth  makes  all  things  difficult,  but  industry,  all  easy  ; 
and,  He  that  riseth  late  must  trot  all  day  and  shall 
scarce  overtake  his  business  at  night  ;  while  Laziness 
travels  so  slowly  that  Poverty  soon  overtakes  him. 
Drive  thy  business,  let  not  that  drive  thee  ;  and, 
Early  to  bed,  and  early  to  rise,  makes  a  man  healthy, 
wealthy,  and  wise,  as  Poor  Richard  says. 


THE   WAY   TO   WEALTH.  205 

"  So  what  signifies  wishing  and  hoping  for  better 
times  ?  We  make  these  times  better  if  we  bestir  our- 
selves. Industry  need  not  wish,  and  he  that  lives 
upon  hopes  will  die  fasting.  There  are  no  gains 
without  pains  ;  then  help,  hands,  for  I  have  no  lands ; 
or,  if  I  have,  they  are  smartly  taxed.  He  that  hath 
a  trade  hath  an  estate  ;  and  he  that  hath  a  calling, 
hath  an  office  of  profit  and  honor,  as  Poor  Richard 
says ;  but  then  the  trade  must  be  worked  at  and  the 
calling  followed,  or  neither  the  estate  nor  the  office 
will  enable  us  to  pay  our  taxes.  If  we  are  industri- 
ous, we  shall  never  starve  ;  for,  At  the  workingman's 
house  hunger  looks  in,  but  dares  not  enter.  Nor  will 
the  bailiff  or  the  constable  enter  ;  for  Industry  pays 
debts,  while  Despair  increaseth  them.  What  though 
you  have  found  no  treasure,  nor  has  any  rich  relation 
left  you  a  legacy  ;  Diligence  is  the  mother  of  good 
luck,  and  God  gives  all  things  to  Industry.  Then 
plow  deep  while  sluggards  sleep,  and  you  shall  have 
corn  to  sell  and  to  keep.  Work  while  it  is  called 
to-day,  for  you  know  not  how  much  you  may  be  hin- 
dered to-morrow.  One  to-day  is  worth  two  to-mor- 
rows, as  poor  Richard  says  ;  and,  further,  Never 
leave  that  till  to-morrow  which  you  can  do  to-day. 
If  you  were  a  good  servant,  would  you  not  be 
ashamed  that  a  good  master  should  catch  you  idle  ? 
Are  you,  then,  your  own  master  ?  Be  ashamed  to 
catch  yourself  idle,  when  there  is  so  much  to  be  done 
for  yourself,  your  family,  your  country,  your  kin. 
Handle  your  tools  without  mittens  ;  remember  that 
The  cat  in  gloves  catches  no  mice,  as  Poor  Richard 
says.  It  is  true  there  is  much  to  be  done,  and  per- 
haps you  are  weak-handed  ;  but  stick  to  it  steadily, 


206  BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

and  you  will  see  great  effects  ;  for,  Constant  dropping 
wears  away  stones  ;  and,  By  diligence  and  patience 
the  mouse  ate  in  two  the  cable  ;  and,  Little  strokes 
fell  great  oaks. 

"  Methinks  I  hear  some  of  you  say,  Must  a  man 
afford  himself  no  leisure  ?  I  will  tell  thee,  my  friend, 
what  Poor  Richard  says  :  Employ  thy  time  well,  if 
thou  meanest  to  gain  leisure  ;  and  since  thou  art  not 
sure  of  a  minute,  throw  not  away  an  hour.  Leisure 
is  time  for  doing  something  useful  ;  this  leisure  the 
diligent  man  will  obtain,  but  the  lazy  man  never  ;  for, 
A  life  of  leisure  and  a  life  of  laziness  are  two  things. 
Many,  without  labor,  would  live  by  their  wits  only, 
but  they  break  for  want  of  stock  ;  whereas  industry 
gives  comfort  and  plenty  and  respect.  Fly  pleasures 
and  they  will  follow  you.  The  diligent  spinner  has 
a  large  shift  ;  and  now  I  have  a  sheep  and  a  cow, 
every  one  bids  me  good  morrow. 

II.  (*  But  with  our  industry  we  must  likewise  be 
steady  and  careful,  and  oversee  our  own  affairs  with 
our  own  eyes,  and  not  trust  too  much  to  others  ;  for, 
as  Poor  Richard  says  : 

I  never  saw  an  oft-removed  tree, 

Nor  yet  an  oft-removed  family, 

That  throve  so  well  as  those  that  settled  be. 

And  again,  Three  removes  are  as  bad  as  a  fire  ;  and 
again,  Keep  thy  shop,  and  thy  shop  will  keep  thee  ; 
and  again,  If  you  would  have  your  business  done, 
go  ;   if  not,  send  ;   and  again  : 


He  that  by  the  plow  would  thrive, 
Himself  must  either  hold  or  drive. 


THE   WAY   TO   WEALTH.  207 

And  again,  The  eye  of  the  master  will  do  more  work 
than  both  his  hands  ;  and  again,  Want  of  care  does 
us  more  damage  than  want  of  knowledge  ;  and  again, 
Not  to  oversee  workmen  is  to  leave  them  your  purse 
open.  Trusting  too  much  to  others'  care  is  the  ruin 
of  many  ;  for,  In  the  affairs  of  this  world  men  are 
saved,  not  by  faith,  but  by  the  want  of  it.  But  a 
man's  own  care  is  profitable  ;  for,  If  you  would  have 
a  faithful  servant  and  one  that  you  like,  serve  your- 
self. A  little  neglect  may  breed  great  mischief; 
for  want  of  a  nail  the  shoe  was  lost,  for  want  of  a 
shoe  the  horse  was  lost,  and  for  want  of  a  horse  the 
rider  was  lost,  being  overtaken  and  slain  by  the  enemy  ; 
all  for  want  of  a  little  care  about  a  horseshoe  nail. 

III.  **  So  much  for  industry,  my  friends,  and 
attention  to  one's  own  business  ;  but  to  these  we 
must  add  frugality,  if  we  would  make  our  industry- 
more  certainly  successful.  A  man  may,  if  he  knows 
not  how  to  save  as  he  gets,  keep  his  nose  all  his  life 
to  the  grindstone,  and  die  not  worth  a  groat  at  last. 
A  fat  kitchen  makes  a  lean  will  ;  and 

Many  estates  are  spent  in  the  getting, 
Since  women  forsook  spinning  and  knitting, 
And  men  for  punch  forsook  hewing  and  splitting. 

If  you  would  be  wealthy,  think  of  saving  as  well  as 
of  getting.  The  Indies  have  not  made  Spain  rich, 
because  her  outgoes  are  greater  than  her  incomes. 
"  Away,  then,  with  your  expensive  follies,  and 
you  will  not  then  have  so  much  cause  to  complain  of 
hard  times,  heavy  taxes,  and  chargeable  families  ;  for 

Pleasure  and  wine,  game  and  deceit, 

Make  the  wealth  small,  and  the  want  great. 


208  BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

And  further,  What  maintains  one  vice  would  bring 
up  two  children.  You  may  think,  perhaps,  that  a 
little  tea  or  a  little  punch  now  and  then,  diet  a  little 
more  costly,  clothes  a  little  finer,  and  a  little  enter- 
tainment now  and  then,  can  be  no  great  matter  ;  but 
remember,  Many  a  little  makes  a  mickle.  Beware 
of  little  expenses  ;  A  small  leak  will  sink  a  great  ship, 
as  Poor  Richard  says  ;  and  again,  Who  dainties  love 
shall  beggars  prove  ;  and  moreover,  Fools  make  feasts 
and  wise  men  eat  them. 

"  Here  you  are  all  got  together  at  this  sale  of  fin- 
eries and  knickknacks.  You  call  them  goods  ;  but, 
if  you  do  not  take  care,  they  will  prove  evils  to  some 
of  you.  You  expect  they  will  be  sold  cheap,  and 
perhaps  they  may  for  less  than  they  cost  ;  but,  if  you 
have  no  occasion  for  them,  they  must  be  dear  to  you. 
Remember  what  Poor  Richard  says  :  Buy  what  thou 
hast  no  need  of,  and  ere  long  thou  shalt  sell  thy 
necessaries.  And  again,  At  a  great  pennyworth 
pause  awhile.  He  means  that  perhaps  the  cheapness 
is  apparent  only,  and  not  real  ;  or,  the  bargain,  by 
straitening  thee  in  thy  business,  may  do  thee  more 
harm  than  good.  For  in  another  place  he  says,  Many 
have  been  ruined  by  buying  good  pennyworths.  Again, 
It  is  foolish  to  lay  out  money  in  a  purchase  of  repent- 
ance ;  and  yet  this  folly  is  practiced  every  day  at 
auctions  for  want  of  minding  the  Almanac.  Many 
for  the  sake  of  finery  on  the  back  have  gone  hungry 
and  half-starved  their  families.  Silks  and  satins,  scar- 
let and  velvets,  put  out  the  kitchen  fire,  as  Poor 
Richard  says. 

"These  are  not  the  necessaries  of  life  ;  they  can 
scarcely  be  called  the  conveniences  ;  and  yet,  only 


THE   WAY   TO   WEALTH.  209 

because  they  look  pretty,  how  many  want  to  have 
them.  By  these  and  other  extravagances  the  genteel 
are  reduced  to  poverty,  and  forced  to  borrow  of  those 
whom  they  formerly  despised,  but  who,  through  in- 
dustry and  frugality,  have  maintained  their  standing  ; 
in  which  case  it  appears  plainly  that,  A  plowman  on 
his  legs  is  higher  than  a  gentleman  on  his  knees,  as 
Poor  Richard  says.  Perhaps  they  have  a  small  estate 
left  them  which  they  knew  not  the  getting  of  ;  they 
think,  It  is  day  and  it  never  will  be  night  ;  that  a 
little  to  be  spent  out  of  so  much  is  not  worth  mind- 
ing ;  but,  Always  taking  out  of  the  meal  tub  and  never 
putting  in,  soon  comes  to  the  bottom,  as  Poor  Rich- 
ard says  ;  and  then,  When  the  well  is  dry,  they 
know  the  worth  of  water.  But  this  they  might 
have  known  before,  if  they  had  taken  his  advice.  If 
you  would  know  the  value  of  money,  go  and  try  to 
borrow  some  ;  for,  He  that  goes  a-borrowing  goes 
a-sorrowing,  as  Poor  Richard  says  ;  and,  indeed,  so 
does  he  that  lends  to  such  people,  when  he  goes  to 
get  it  again.      Poor  Dick  further  advises  and  says  : 

Fond  pride  of  dress  is  sure  a  very  curse ; 
Ere  fancy  you  consult,  consult  your  purse. 

And  again,  Pride  is  as  loud*  a  beggar  as  Want,  and 
a  great  deal  more  saucy.  When  you  have  bought 
one  fine  thing,  you  must  buy  ten  more,  that  your 
appearance  may  be  all  of  a  piece  ;  but  Poor  Dick  says, 
It  is  easier  to  suppress  the  first  desire  than  to  satisfy 
all  that  follow  it.  And  it  is  as  truly  folly  for  the  poor 
to  ape  the  rich,  as  for  the  frog  to  swell  in  order  to 
equal  the  ox. 


210  BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

Vessels  large  may  venture  more, 

But  little  boats  should  keep  near  shore. 

It  is,  however,  a  folly  soon  punished  ;  for,  as  Poor 
Richard  says,  Pride  that  dines  on  vanity,  sups  on 
contempt.  Pride  breakfasted  with  Plenty,  dined 
with  Poverty,  and  supped  with  Infamy.  And,  after 
all,  of  what  use  is  this  pride  of  appearance,  for  which 
so  much  is  risked,  so  much  is  suffered  ?  It  cannot 
promote  health  nor  ease  pain  ;  it  makes  no  increase 
of  merit  in  the  person  ;  it  creates  envy  ;  it  hastens 
misfortune. 

"  But  what  madness  must  it  be  to  run  in  debt  for 
these  superfluities  ?  We  are  offered  by  the  terms  of 
this  sale  six  months'  credit  ;  and  that,  perhaps,  has 
induced  some  of  us  to  attend  it,  because  we  cannot 
spare  the  ready  money,  and  hope  now  to  be  fine 
without  it.  But  ah  !  think  what  you  do  when  you 
run  in  debt  ;  you  give  to  another  power  over  your 
liberty.  If  you  cannot  pay  at  the  time,  you  will  be 
ashamed  to  see  your  creditor  ;  you  will  be  in  fear 
when  you  speak  to  him  ;  you  will  make  poor,  pitiful, 
sneaking  excuses,  and  by  degrees  come  to  lose  your 
veracity,  and  sink  into  base,  downright  lying  ;  for, 
The  second  vice  is  lying,  the  first  is  running  in  debt, 
as  Poor  Richard  says  ;  and  again  to  the  same  pur- 
pose, Lying  rides  upon  debt's  back  ;  whereas  a  free- 
born  Englishman  ought  not  to  be  ashamed  nor  afraid 
to  see  or  speak  to  any  man  living.  But  poverty  often 
deprives  a  man  of  all  spirit  and  virtue.  It  is  hard  for 
an  empty  bag  to  stand  upright. 

"What  would  you  think  of  that  prince,  or  of  that 
government,  who  should  issue  an  edict  forbidding 
you  to  dress  like  a  gentleman    or   gentlewoman,  on 


THE   WAY   TO   WEALTH.  211 

pain  of"  imprisonment  or  servitude  ?  Would  you  not 
say  that  you  are  free,  have  a  right  to  dress  as  you 
please,  and  that  such  an  edict  would  be  a  breach  of 
your  privileges  and  such  a  government  tyrannical  ? 
And  yet  you  are  about  to  put  yourself  under  such 
tyranny,  when  you  run  in  debt  for  such  dress.  Your 
creditor  has  authority,  at  his  pleasure,  to  deprive  you 
of  your  liberty  by  confining  you  in  jail  till  you  shall 
be  able  to  pay  him.  When  you  have  got  your  bar- 
gain, you  may,  perhaps,  think  little  of  payment;  but, 
as  Poor  Richard  says,  Creditors  have  better  memories 
than  debtors  ;  creditors  are  a  superstitious  sect,  great 
observers  of  set  days  and  times.  The  day  comes 
round  before  you  are  aware,  and  the  demand  is  made 
before  you  are  prepared  to  satisfy  it  ;  or,  if  you  bear 
your  debt  in  mind,  the  term,  which  at  first  seemed  so 
long,  will,  as  it  lessens,  appear  extremely  short. 
Time  will  seem  to  have  added  wings  to  his  heels  as 
well  as  his  shoulders.  Those  have  a  short  Lent  who 
owe  money  to  be  paid  at  Easter.  At  present,  per- 
haps, you  may  think  yourselves  in  thriving  circum- 
stances, and  that  you  can  bear  a  little  extravagance 
without  injury  ;  but 

For  age  and  want  save  while  you  may ; 
No  morning  sun  lasts  a  whole  day. 

Gain  may  be  temporary  and  uncertain,  but  ever, 
while  you  live,  expense  is  constant  and  certain  ;  and, 
It  is  easier  to  build  two  chimneys  than  to  keep  one  in 
fuel,  as  Poor  Richard  says  ;  so,  Rather  go  to  bed 
supperless  than  rise  in  debt. 

Get  what  you  can,  and  what  you  get,  hold, 

'Tis  the  stone  that  will  turn  all  your  lead  into  gold. 


212  BENJAMIN   FRANKLIN. 

And  when  you  have  got  the  philosopher's  stone,  be 
sure  you  will  no  longer  complain  of  bad  times  or  the 
difficulty  of  paying  taxes. 

IV.  "  This  doctrine,  my  friends,  is  reason  and 
wisdom  ;  but,  after  all,  do  not  depend  too  much 
upon  your  own  industry  and  frugality  and  prudence, 
though  excellent  things  ;  for  they  may  all  be  blasted, 
without  the  blessing  of  Heaven  ;  and,  therefore,  ask 
that  blessing  humbly,  and  be  not  uncharitable  to  those 
that  at  present  seem  to  want  it,  but  comfort  and  help 
them.  Remember  Job  suffered,  and  was  afterward 
prosperous. 

"  And  now,  to  conclude,  Experience  keeps  a  dear 
school,  but  fools  will  learn  in  no  other,  as  Poor  Rich- 
ard says,  and  scarce  in  that  ;  for,  it  is  true,  we  may 
give  advice,  but  we  cannot  give  conduct.  However, 
remember  this :  They  that  will  not  be  counseled  can- 
not be  helped  ;  and  further  that,  If  you  will  not  hear 
Reason,  she  will  surely  rap  your  knuckles,  as  Poor 
Richard  says." 

Thus  the  old  gentleman  ended  his  harangue.  The 
people  heard  it,  and  approved  the  doctrine,  and  im- 
mediately practiced  the  contrary,  just  as  if  it  had  been 
a  common  sermon  ;  for  the  auction  opened  and  they 
began  to  buy  extravagantly.  I  found  the  good  man 
had  thoroughly  studied  my  almanacs,  and  digested  all 
I  had  dropped  on  these  topics  during  the  course  of 
twenty-five  years.  The  frequent  mention  he  made 
of  me  must  have  tired  any  one  else  ;  but  my  vanity 
was  wonderfully  delighted  with  it,  though  I  was  con- 
scious that  not  a  tenth  part  of  the  wisdom  was  my 
own  which  he  ascribed  to  me,  but  rather  the  glean- 
ings that  I  had  made  of  the   sense  of  all   ages   and 


HOW   TO   CONDUCT   A   NEWSPAPER.     21 3 

nations.  However,  I  resolved  to  be  the  better  for  the 
echo  of  it  ;  and,  though  I  had  at  first  determined  to 
buy  stuff  for  a  new  coat,  I  went  away  resolved  to 
wear  my  old  one  a  little  longer.  Reader,  if  thou 
wilt  do  the  same,  thy  profit  will  be  as  great  as  mine. 
I  am,  as  ever,  thine  to  serve  thee, 

Richard  Saunders. 


HOW   TO    CONDUCT    A    NEWSPAPER. 

In  the  conduct  of  my  newspaper,  I  carefully  ex- 
cluded all  libeling  and  personal  abuse,  which  is  of 
late  years  become  so  disgraceful  to  our  country. 
Whenever  I  was  solicited  to  insert  anything  of  that 
kind,  and  the  writers  pleaded,  as  they  generally  did, 
the  liberty  of  the  press,  and  that  a  newspaper  was 
like  a  stagecoach,  in  which  any  one  who  would  pay 
had  a  right  to  a  place,  my  answer  was  that  I  would 
print  the  piece  separately  if  desired,  and  the  author 
might  have  as  many  copies  as  he  pleased  to  distribute 
himself,  but  that  I  would  not  take  upon  me  to  spread 
his  detraction ;  and  that,  having  contracted  with  my 
subscribers  to  furnish  them  with  what  might  be  either 
useful  or  entertaining,  I  could  not  fill  their  papers 
with  private  altercation,  in  which  they  had  no  con- 
cern, without  doing  them  manifest  injustice.  Now 
many  of  our  printers  make  no  scruple  of  gratifying 
the  malice  of  individuals  by  false  accusations  of  the  fair- 
est characters  among  ourselves,  augmenting  animosity 
even  to  the  producing  of  duels  ;  and  are,  moreover,  so 
indiscreet  as  to  print  scurrilous  reflections  on  the  gov- 
ernment of  neighboring  states,  and  even  on  the  con- 


214  BENJAMIN   FRANKLIN. 

duct  of  our  best  national  allies,  which  may  be  attended 
with  the  most  pernicious  consequences.  These  things 
I  mention  as  a  caution  to  young  printers,  and  that 
they  may  be  encouraged  not  to  pollute  their  presses 
and  disgrace  their  profession  by  such  infamous  prac- 
tices, but  refuse  steadily,  as  they  may  see  by  my  ex- 
ample that  such  a  course  of  conduct  will  not,  on  the 
whole,  be  injurious  to  their  interests. 


FRANKLIN'S   EXPERIENCES   WITH 
WHITEFIELD. 

In  1739  arrived  among  us  from  Ireland  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Whitefield,  who  had  made  himself  remarkable  there 
as  an  itinerant  preacher.  He  was  at  first  permitted 
to  preach  in  some  of  our  churches  ;  but  the  clergy, 
taking  a  dislike  to  him,  soon  refused  him  their  pulpits, 
and  he  was  obliged  to  preach  in  the  fields.  The 
multitudes  of  all  sects  and  denominations  that  at- 
tended his  sermons  were  enormous,  and  it  was  matter 
of  speculation  to  me,  who  was  one  of  the  number,  to 
observe  the  extraordinary  influence  of  his  oratory  on 
his  hearers,  and  how  much  they  admired  and  re- 
spected him,  notwithstanding  his  common  abuse  of" 
them  by  assuring  them  they  were  naturally  "  half 
beasts  and  half  devils."  It  was  wonderful  to  see  the 
change  soon  made  in  the  manners  of  our  inhabitants. 
From  being  thoughtless  or  indifferent  about  religion,  it 
seemed  as  if  all  the  world  were  growing  religious,  so 
that  one  could  not  walk  through  the  town  in  an  eve- 
ning without  hearing  psalms  sung  in  different  families 
of  every    street.    .    .    . 


EXPERIENCES   WITH   WHITEFIELD.     21 5 

...  I  happened  soon  after  to  attend  one  of  his 
sermons,  in  the  course  of  which  I  perceived  he  in- 
tended to  finish  with  a  collection,  and  I  silently  re- 
solved he  should  get  nothing  from  me.  I  had  in  my 
pocket  a  handful  of  copper  money,  three  or  four  silver 
dollars,  and  five  pistoles  in  gold.  As  he  proceeded 
I  began  to  soften,  and  concluded  to  give  the  coppers. 
Another  stroke  of  his  oratory  made  me  ashamed  of 
that,  and  determined  me  to  give  the  silver  ;  and  he 
finished  so  admirably  that  I  emptied  my  pocket 
wholly  into  the  collector's  dish,  gold  and  all.  At  this 
sermon  there  was  also  one  of  our  club,  who,  being  of 
my  sentiments  respecting  the  building  in  Georgia,  and 
suspecting  a  collection  might  be  intended,  had,  by 
precaution,  emptied  his  pockets  before  he  came  from 
home.  Toward  the  conclusion  of  the  discourse,  how- 
ever, he  felt  a  strong  desire  to  give,  and  applied  to  a 
neighbor  who  stood  near  him,  to  borrow  some  money 
for  the  purpose.  The  application  was  unfortunately 
to  perhaps  the  only  man  in  the  company  who  had  the 
firmness  not  to  be  affected  by  the  preacher.  His  an- 
swer was:  "  At  any  other  time,  friend  Hopkinson  I 
would  lend  to  thee  freely  ;  but  not  now,  for  thee  seems 
to  be  out  of  thy  right  senses." 

The  following  instance  will  show  something  of  the 
terms  on  which  we  stood.  Upon  one  of  his  arrivals 
from  England  at  Boston,  he  wrote  to  me  that  he 
should  come  soon  to  Philadelphia,  but  knew  not 
where  he  could  lodge  when  there,  as  he  understood 
his  old  friend  and  host,  Mr.  Benezet,  was  removed 
to  Germantown.  My  answer  was  :  "  You  know 
my  house  ;  if  you  can  make  shift  with  its  scanty  ac- 
commodations, you  will  be  most  heartily  welcome. " 


2l6  BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

He  replied  that  if  I  made  that  kind  offer  for  Christ's 
sake  I  should  not  miss  of  a  reward  ;  and  I  returned  : 
"  Don't  let  me  be  mistaken  ;  it  was  not  for  Christ's 
sake,  but  for  your  own  sake."  One  of  our  common 
acquaintance  remarked  that,  knowing  it  to  be  the 
custom  of  the  saints,  when  they  received  any  favor,  to 
shift  the  burden  of  the  obligation  from  off  their  own 
shoulders  and  place  it  in  heaven,  I  had  contrived  to 
fix  it  on  earth. 

ORGANIZING    EDUCATION     AND     PUB- 
LIC   DEFENCE. 

I  had,  on  the  whole,  abundant  reason  to  be  satis- 
fied with  my  being  established  in  Pennsylvania. 
There  were,  however,  two  things  which  I  regretted, 
—  there  being  no  provision  for  defense,  nor  for  a 
complete  education  of  youth  ;  no  militia,  nor  any 
college.  I  therefore,  in  1743,  drew  up  a  proposal 
for  establishing  an  academy,  and  at  that  time  thinking 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Peters,  who  was  out  of  employ,  a  fit 
person  to  superintend  such  an  institution,  I  communi- 
cated the  project  to  him  ;  but  he,  having  more  profita- 
ble views  in  the  service  of  the  proprietaries,  which 
succeeded,  declined  the  undertaking  ;  and,  not  know- 
ing another  at  that  time  suitable  for  such  a  trust,  I  let 
the  scheme  lie  awhile  dormant.  I  succeeded  better 
the  next  year,  1744,  in  proposing  and  establishing  a 
philosophical  society.  The  paper  I  wrote  for  that  pur- 
pose will  be  found  among  my  writings  when  collected. 

With  respect  to  defence,  ...  I  determined  to 
try  what  might  be  done  by  a  voluntary  association  of 
the  people.      To  promote  this  I  first  wrote  and  pub- 


THE   FRANKLIN    STOVE.  217 

lished  a  pamphlet  entitled  "Plain  Truth,"  in  which 
I  stated  our  defenseless  situation  in  strong  lights,  with 
the  necessity  of  union  and  discipline  for  our  defense, 
and  promised  to  propose  in  a  few  days  an  association, 
to  be  generally  signed  for  that  purpose.  The  pam- 
phlet had  a  sudden  and  surprising  effect.  I  was 
called  upon  for  the  instrument  of  association,  and  hav- 
ing settled  the  draft  of  it  with  a  few  friends,  I  ap- 
pointed a  meeting  of  the  citizens  in  the  large  building 
before  mentioned.  The  house  was  pretty  full.  I 
had  prepared  a  number  of  printed  copies,  and  pro- 
vided pens  and  ink  dispersed  all  over  the  room.  I 
harangued  them  a  little  on  the  subject,  read  the  paper 
and  explained  it,  and  then  distributed  the  copies, 
which  were  eagerly  signed,  not  the  least  objection 
being  made. 

When  the  company  separated  and  the  papers  were 
collected,  we  found  above  twelve  hundred  hands ; 
and,  other  copies  being  dispersed  in  the  country,  the 
subscribers  amounted  at  length  to  upward  of  ten 
thousand.  These  all  furnished  themselves  as  soon  as 
they  could  with  arms,  formed  themselves  into  com- 
panies and  regiments,  chose  their  own  officers,  and 
met  every  week  to  be  instructed  in  the  manual  exercise 
and  other  parts  of  military  discipline.  The  women 
by  subscriptions  among  themselves,  provided  silk 
colors,  which  they  presented  to  the  companies,  painted 
with  different  devices  and  mottoes  which  I  supplied. 

THE    FRANKLIN   STOVE. 

In  order  of  time  I  should  have  mentioned  before 
that,  having  in  1742  invented  an  open  stove  for  the 


21 8  BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

better  warming  of  rooms  and  at  the  same  time  saving 
fuel,  as  the  fresh  air  admitted  was  warmed  in  entering, 
I  made  a  present  of  the  model  to  Mr.  Robert  Grace, 
one  of  my  early  friends,  who,  having  an  iron  furnace, 
found  the  casting  of  the  plates  for  these  stoves  a  prof- 
itable thing,  as  they  were  growing  in  demand.  To 
promote  that  demand  I  wrote  and  published  a  pam- 
phlet entitled,  "  An  Account  of  the  new-invented 
Pennsylvania  Fireplaces  ;  wherein  their  Construction 
and  Manner  of  Operation  is  particularly  explained  ; 
their  Advantages  above  every  other  Method  of  warm- 
ing Rooms  demonstrated  ;  and  all  Objections  that 
have  been  raised  against  the  Use  of  them  answered 
and  obviated,"  etc.  This  pamphlet  had  a  good 
effect.  Governor  Thomas  was  so  pleased  with  the 
construction  of  this  stove,  as  described  in  it,  that  he 
offered  to  give  me  a  patent  for  the  sole  vending  of 
them  for  a  term  of  years  ;  but  I  declined  it  from  a 
principle  which  has  ever  weighed  with  me  on  such 
occasions  ;  namely,  that  as  we  enjoy  great  advantages 
from  the  inventions  of  others,  we  should  be  glad  of  an 
opportunity  to  serve  others  by  any  invention  of  ours  ; 
and  this  we  should  do  freely  and  generously. 


PUBLIC-SPIRITED    PROJECTS. 

Peace  being  concluded,  and  the  association  busi- 
ness therefore  at  an  end,  I  turned  my  thoughts  again 
to  the  affair  of  establishing  an  academy.  The  first 
step  I  took  was  to  associate  in  the  design  a  number 
of  active  friends,  of  whom  the  Junto  furnished  a 
good  part.      The  next   was  to  write  and  publish   a 


PUBLIC-SPIRITED    PROJECTS.         219 

pamphlet  entitled  "Proposals  relating  to  the  Educa- 
tion of  Youth  in  Pennsylvania."  This  I  distributed 
among  the  principal  inhabitants  gratis  ;  and  as  soon 
as  I  could  suppose  their  minds  a  little  prepared  by  the 
perusal  of  it,  I  set  on  foot  a  subscription  for  opening 
and  supporting  an  academy.  It  was  to  be  paid  in 
quotas  yearly  for  five  years.  By  so  dividing  it  I 
judged  the  subscription  might  be  larger,  and  I  believe 
it  was  so,  amounting  to  no  less,  if  I  remember  right, 
than  five  thousand  pounds. 

In  the  introduction  to  these  Proposals  I  stated  their 
publication,  not  as  an  act  of  mine,  but  of  some  *"  public- 
spirited  gentlemen,"  avoiding  as  much  as  I  could, 
according  to  my  usual  rule,  the  presenting  myself  to  the 
public  as  the  author  of  any  scheme  for  their  benefit. 

The  subscribers,  to  carry  the  project  into  immediate 
execution,  chose  out  of  their  number  twenty-four 
trustees,  and  appointed  Mr.  Francis,  then  attorney- 
general,  and  myself  to  draw  up  constitutions  for  the 
government  of  the  academy  ;  which  being  done  and 
signed,  a  house  was  hired,  masters  engaged,  and  the 
schools  opened,  I  think,  in  the  same  year,   1749. 

The  trustees  of  the  academy  after  a  while  were 
incorporated  by  a  charter  from  the  government  ;  their 
funds  were  increased  by  contributions  in  Britain  and 
grants  of  land  from  the  proprietaries,  to  which  the 
Assembly  has  since  made  considerable  addition  ;  and 
thus  was  established  the  present  University  of  Phila- 
delphia. I  have  been  continued  one  of  its  trustees 
from  the  beginning,  now  near  forty  years.    .    .    . 

In  1  75  1  Dr.  Thomas  Bond,  a  particular  friend  of 
mine,  conceived  the  idea  of  establishing  a  hospital  in 
Philadelphia  (a  very  beneficent  design  which  has  been 


220  BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

ascribed  to  me  but  was  originally  his)  for  the  recep- 
tion and  cure  of  poor  sick  persons,  whether  inhabit- 
ants of  the  province  or  strangers.  He  was  zealous 
and  active  in  endeavoring  to  procure  subscriptions  for 
it,  but  the  proposal  being  a  novelty  in  America,  and  at 
first  not  well  understood,  he  met  with  but  small  success. 

At  length  he  came  to  me  with  the  compliment  that 
he  found  there  was  no  such  thing  as  carrying  a  public- 
spirited  project  through  without  my  being  concerned 
in  it.  "  For,"  says  he,  €*  I  am  often  asked  by  those 
to  whom  I  propose  subscribing,  *  Have  you  consulted 
Franklin  upon  this  business  ?  And  what  does  he 
think  of  it  ? '  And  when  I  tell  them  that  I  have  not 
(supposing  it  rather  out  of  your  line),  they  do  not  sub- 
scribe, but  say  they  will  consider  of  it."  I  inquired 
into  the  nature  and  probable  utility  of  his  scheme, 
and  receiving  from  him  a  very  satisfactory  explana- 
tion, I  not  only  subscribed  to  it  myself,  but  engaged 
heartily  in  the  design  of  procuring  subscriptions  from 
others.  Previously,  however,  to  the  solicitation,  I 
endeavored  to  prepare  the  minds  of  the  people  by 
writing  on  the  subject  in  the  newspapers,  which  was 
my  usual  custom  in  such  cases,  but  which  he  had 
omitted. 

The  subscriptions  afterward  were  more  free  and 
generous  ;  but,  beginning  to  flag,  I  saw  they  would 
be  insufficient  without  some  assistance  from  the  As- 
sembly, and  therefore  proposed  to  petition  for  it, 
which  was  done.  The  country  members  did  not  at 
first  relish  the  project.  They  objected  that  it  could 
only  be  serviceable  to  the  city,  and  therefore  the  citi- 
zens alone  should  be  at  the  expense  of  it  ;  and  they 
doubted  whether  the  citizens  themselves  generally  ap- 


PUBLIC-SPIRITED    PROJECTS.  221 

proved  of  it.  My  allegation  on  the  contrary,  that  it 
met  with  such  approbation  as  to  leave  no  doubt  of 
our  being  able  to  raise  two  thousand  pounds  by  volun- 
tary donations,  they  considered  as  a  most  extravagant 
supposition  and  utterly  impossible. 

On  this  I  formed  my  plan  ;  and,  asking  leave  to 
bring  in  a  bill  for  incorporating  the  contributors  ac- 
cording to  the  prayer  of  their  petition,  and  granting 
them  a  blank  sum  of  money,  which  leave  was  ob- 
tained chiefly  on  the  consideration  that  the  House 
could  throw  the  bill  out  if  they  did  not  like  it,  I  drew 
it  so  as  to  make  the  important  clause  a  conditional 
one,  namely  :  M  And  be  it  enacted,  by  the  authority 
aforesaid,  that  when  the  said  contributors  shall  have 
met  and  chosen  their  managers  and  treasurer,  and 
shall  have  raised  by  their  contributions  a  capital  stock 

of value,  (the   yearly  interest  of  which  is  to  be 

applied  to  the  accommodating  of  the  sick  poor  in  the 
said  hospital,  free  of  charge  for  diet,  attendance,  ad- 
vice, and  medicines,)  and  shall  make  the  same  appear 
to  the  satisfaction  of  the  speaker  of  the  Assembly  for 
the  time  being,  that  then  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful 
for  the  said  speaker,  and  he  is  hereby  required,  to 
sign  an  order  on  the  provincial  treasurer  for  the  pay- 
ment of  two  thousand  pounds,  in  two  yearly  pay- 
ments, to  the  treasurer  of  the  said  hospital,  to  be 
applied  to  the  founding,  building,  and  finishing  of 
the  same." 

This  condition  carried  the  bill  through  ;  for  the 
members  who  had  opposed  the  grant,  and  now  con- 
ceived they  might  have  the  credit  of  being  charitable 
without  the  expense,  agreed  to  its  passage  ;  and  then, 
in    soliciting    subscriptions    among    the    people,    we 


222  BENJAMIN   FRANKLIN. 

urged  the  conditional  promise  of  the  law  as  an  addi- 
tional motive  to  give,  since  every  man's  donation 
would  be  doubled  ;  thus  the  clause  worked  both 
ways.  The  subscriptions  accordingly  soon  exceeded 
the  requisite  sum,  and  we  claimed  and  received  the 
public  gift,  which  enabled  us  to  carry  the  design  into 
execution.  A  convenient  and  handsome  building 
was  soon  erected  ;  the  institution  has,  by  constant 
experience,  been  found  useful,  and  flourishes  to  this 
day  ;  and  I  do  not  remember  any  of  my  political 
maneuvers  the  success  of  which  gave  me  at  the  time 
more  pleasure,  or  wherein,  after  thinking  of  it,  I  more 
easily  excused  myself  for  having  made  some  use  of 
cunning. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  another  projector,  the 
Rev.  Gilbert  Tennent,  came  to  me  with  a  request 
that  I  would  assist  him  in  procuring  a  subscription  for 
erecting  a  new  meetinghouse.  It  was  to  be  for  the 
use  of  a  congregation  he  had  gathered  among  the 
Presbyterians  who  were  originally  disciples  of  Mr. 
Whitefield.  Unwilling  to  make  myself  disagreeable 
to  my  fellow-citizens  by  too  frequently  soliciting  their 
contributions,  I  absolutely  refused.  He  then  desired 
[  would  furnish  him  with  a  list  of  the  names  of  per- 
sons I  knew  by  experience  to  be  generous  and  public- 
spirited.  I  thought  it  would  be  unbecoming  in  me, 
after  their  kind  compliance  with  my  solicitations,  to 
mark  them  out  to  be  worried  by  other  beggars,  and 
therefore  refused  also  to  give  such  a  list.  He  then 
desired  I  would  at  least  give  him  my  advice.  «f  That 
I  will  readily  do,"  said  I  ;  "  and  in  the  first  place,  I 
advise  you  to  apply  to  all  those  whom  you  know  will 
give  something  ;   next,  to   tho^e    whom   you  are  un- 


PUBLIC-SPIRITED    PROJECTS.  223 

certain  whether  they  will  give  anything  or  not,  and 
show  them  the  list  of  those  who  have  given  ;  and, 
lastly,  do  not  neglect  those  who  you  are  sure  will 
give  nothing,  for  in  some  of  them  you  may  be  mis- 
taken." He  laughed  and  thanked  me,  and  said  he 
would  take  my  advice.  He  did  so,  for  he  asked  of 
everybody,  and  he  obtained  a  much  larger  sum  than 
he  expected,  with  which  he  erected  the  capacious 
and  very  elegant  meetinghouse  that  stands  in  Arch 
Street. 

Our  city,  though  laid  out  with  a  beautiful  regular- 
ity, the  streets  large,  straight,  and  crossing  each  other 
at  right  angles,  had  the  disgrace  of  suffering  those 
streets  to  remain  long  unpaved,  and  in  wet  weather 
the  wheels  of  heavy  carriages  plowed  them  into  a 
quagmire,  so  that  it  was  difficult  to  cross  them,  and 
in  dry  weather  the  dust  was  offensive.  I  had  lived 
near  what  was  called  the  Jersey  Market,  and  saw 
with  pain  the  inhabitants  wading  in  mud  while  pur- 
chasing their  provisions.  A  strip  of  ground  down  the 
middle  of  that  market  was  at  length  paved  with  brick, 
so  that,  being  once  in  the  market,  they  had  firm  foot- 
ing, but  were  often  over  shoes  in  dirt  to  get  there. 
By  talking  and  writing  on  the  subject  I  was  at  length 
instrumental  in  getting  the  street  paved  with  stone  be- 
tween the  market  and  the  bricked  foot  pavement  that 
was  on  each  side  next  the  houses.  This  for  some 
time  gave  an  easy  access  to  the  market,  dry-shod  ; 
but,  the  rest  of  the  street  not  being  paved,  whenever 
a  carriage  came  out  of  the  mud  upon  this  pavement, 
it  shook  off  and  left  its  dirt  upon  it,  and  it  was  soon 
covered  with  mire,  which  was  not  removed,  the  city 
as  yet  having  no  scavengers. 


224  BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

After  some  inquiry  I  found  a  poor,  industrious 
man,  who  was  willing  to  undertake  keeping  the  pave- 
ment clean  by  sweeping  it  twice  a  week,  carrying  off 
the  dirt  from  before  all  the  neighbors'  doors  for  the 
sum  of  sixpence  per  month  to  be  paid  by  each  house. 
I  then  wrote  and  printed  a  paper  setting  forth  the  ad- 
vantages to  the  neighborhood  that  might  be  obtained 
by  this  small  expense  :  the  greater  ease  in  keeping 
our  houses  clean,  so  much  dirt  not  being  brought  in 
by  people's  feet  ;  the  benefit  to  the  shops  by  more 
custom,  etc.,  as  buyers  could  more  easily  get  at  them, 
and  by  not  having,  in  windy  weather,  the  dust  blown 
in  upon  their  goods,  etc.  I  sent  one  of  these  papers 
to  each  house,  and  in  a  day  or  two  went  round  to 
see  who  would  subscribe  an  agreement  to  pay  these 
sixpences.  It  was  unanimously  signed,  and  for  a 
time  well  executed.  All  the  inhabitants  of  the  city 
were  delighted  with  the  cleanliness  of  the  pavement 
that  surrounded  the  market,  it  being  a  convenience  to 
all;  and  this  raised  a  general  desire  to  have  all*  the 
streets  paved,  and  made  the  people  more  willing  to 
submit  to  a  tax  for  that  purpose. 

After  some  time  I  drew  a  bill  for  paving  the  city, 
and  brought  it  into  the  Assembly.  It  was  just  before 
I  went  to  England  in  1757,  and  did  not  pass  till  I 
was  gone,  and  then  with  an  alteration  in  the  mode  of 
assessment  which  I  thought  not  for  the  better,  but 
with  an  additional  provision  for  lighting  as  well  as 
paving  the  streets,  which  was  a  great  improvement. 
It  was  by  a  private  person,  the  late  Mr.  John  Clifton, 
—  his  giving  a  sample  of  the  utility  of  lamps  by  plac- 
ing one  at  his  door,  —  that  the  people  were  first  im- 
pressed with  the  idea  of  enlighting  all  the  city.      The 


PUBLIC-SPIRITED    PROJECTS.  225 

honor  of  this  public  benefit  has  also  been  ascribed  to 
me,  but  it  belongs  truly  to  that  gentleman.  I  did 
but  follow  his  example,  and  have  only  some  merit  to 
claim  respecting  the  form  of  our  lamps,  as  differing 
from  the  globe  lamps  we  were  at  first  supplied  with 
from  London.  Those  we  found  inconvenient  in 
these  respects  :  they  admitted  no  air  below  ;  the 
smoke,  therefore,  did  not  readily  go  out  above,  but 
circulated  in  the  globe,  lodged  on  its  inside,  and  scon 
obstructed  the  light  they  were  intended  to  afford,  giv- 
ing, besides,  the  daily  trouble  of  wiping  them  clean; 
and  an  accidental  stroke  on  one  of  them  would  de- 
molish it  and  render  it  totally  useless.  I  therefore 
suggested  the  composing  them  of  four  flat  panes,  with 
a  long  funnel  above  to  draw  up  the  smoke,  and  crev- 
ices admitting  air  below  to  facilitate  the  ascent  of  the 
smoke.  By  this  means  they  were  kept  clean,  and 
did  not  grow  dark  in  a  few  hours,  as  the  London 
lamps  do,  but  continued  bright  till  morning,  and  an 
accidental  stroke  would  generally  break  but  a  single 
pane,  easily  repaired. 

I  have  sometimes  wondered  that  the  Londoners 
did  not,  from  the  effect  holes  in  the  bottom  of  the 
globe  lamps  used  at  Vauxhall  have  in  keeping  them 
clean,  learn  to  have  such  holes  in  their  street  lamps. 
But,  these  holes  being  made  for  another  purpose, 
namely,  to  communicate  flame  more  suddenly  to  the 
wick  by  a  little  flax  hanging  down  through  them,  the 
other  use,  of  letting  in  air,  seems  not  to  have  been 
thought  of;  and  therefore,  after  the  lamps  have  been 
lit  a  few  hours,  the  streets  of  London  are  very  poorly 
illuminated. 

The  mention   of  these  improvements   puts   me   in 


226  BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

mind  of  one  I  proposed,  when  in  London,  to  Dr. 
Fothergill,  who  was  among  the  best  men  I  have 
known,  and  a  great  promoter  of  useful  projects.  I 
had  observed  that  the  streets,  when  dry,  were  never 
swept,  and  the  light  dust  carried  away  ;  but  it  was 
suffered  to  accumulate  till  wet  weather  reduced  it  to 
mud,  and  then,  after  lying  some  days  so  deep  on  the 
pavement  that  there  was  no  crossing  but  in  paths  kept 
clean  by  poor  people  with  brooms,  it  was  with  great 
labor  raked  together  and  thrown  up  into  carts  open 
above,  the  sides  of  which  suffered  some  of  the  slush 
at  every  jolt  on  the  pavement  to  shake  out  and  fall, 
sometimes  to  the  annoyance  of  foot  passengers.  The 
reason  given  for  not  sweeping  the  dusty  streets  was 
that  the  dust  would  fly  into  the  windows  of  shops 
and  houses. 

An  accidental  occurrence  had  instructed  me  how 
much  sweeping  might  be  done  in  a  little  time.  I 
found  at  my  door  in  Craven  Street  one  morning,  a 
poor  woman  sweeping  my  pavement  with  a  birch 
broom.  She  appeared  very  pale  and  feeble,  as  just 
come  out  of  a  fit  of  sickness.  I  asked  who  employed 
her  to  sweep  there.  She  said,  "  Nobody  ;  but  I 
am  very  poor  and  in  distress,  and  I  sweeps  before 
gentlefolkses  doors,  and  hopes  they  will  give  me 
something."  I  bid  her  sweep  the  whole  street  clean, 
and  I  would  give  her  a  shilling.  This  was  at  nine 
o'clock  ;  at  twelve  she  came  for  the  shilling.  From 
the  slowness  I  saw  at  first  in  her  working  I  could 
scarce  believe  that  the  work  was  done  so  soon,  and 
sent  my  servant  to  examine  it,  who  reported  that  the 
whole  street  was  swept  perfectly  clean,  and  all  the 
dust  placed  in  the  gutter,  which  was  in  the  middle  ; 


PUBLIC-SPIRITED  PROJECTS.         227 

and  the  next  rain  washed  it  quite  away,  so  that  the 
pavement,  and  even  the  kennel,  were  perfectly  clean. 

I  then  judged  that  if  that  feeble  woman  could 
sweep  such  a  street  in  three  hours,  a  strong,  active 
man  might  have  done  it  in  half  the  time.  And  here 
let  me  remark  the  convenience  of  having  but  one  gut- 
ter in  such  a  narrow  street,  running  down  its  middle, 
instead  of  two,  one  on  each  side,  near  the  footway  ; 
for  where  all  the  rain  that  falls  on  a  street  runs  from 
the  sides  and  meets  in  the  middle,  it  forms  there  a 
current  strong  enough  to  wash  away  all  the  mud  it 
meets  with  ;  but  when  divided  into  two  channels,  it 
is  often  too  weak  to  cleanse  either,  and  only  makes 
the  mud  it  finds  more  fluid,  so  that  the  wheels  of 
carriages  and  feet  of  horses  throw  and  dash  it  upon 
the  foot  pavement,  which  is  thereby  rendered  foul 
and  slippery,  and  sometimes  splash  it  upon  those 
who  are  walking.    .    .    . 

Some  may  think  these  trifling  matters,  not  worth 
minding  or  relating  ;  but  when  they  consider  that 
though  dust  blown  into  the  eyes  of  a  single  person, 
or  into  a  single  shop,  on  a  windy  day  is  but  of  small 
importance,  yet  the  great  number  of  the  instances  in 
a  populous  city,  and  its  frequent  repetitions,  give  it 
weight  and  consequence,  perhaps  they  will  not  cen- 
sure very  severely  those  who  bestow  some  attention  to 
affairs  of  this  seemingly  low  nature.  Human  felicity 
is  produced  not  so  much  by  great  pieces  of  good  for- 
tune that  seldom  happen,  as  by  little  advantages  that 
occur  every  day.  Thus,  if  you  teach  a  poor  young 
man  to  shave  himself  and  keep  his  razor  in  order, 
you  may  contribute  more  to  the  happiness  of  his  life 
than  in  giving  him  a  thousand   guineas.      The  money 


228  BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

may  be  soon  spent,  the  regret  only  remaining  of  hav- 
ing foolishly  consumed  it  ;  but  in  the  other  case,  he 
escapes  the  frequent  vexation  of  waiting  for  barbers, 
and  of  their  sometimes  dirty  fingers,  offensive  breaths, 
and  dull  razors.  He  shaves  when  most  convenient 
to  him,  and  enjoys  daily  the  pleasure  of  its  being 
done  with  a  good  instrument.  With  these  sentiments 
I  have  hazarded  the  few  preceding  pages,  hoping 
they  may  afford  hints  which  some  time  or  other  may 
be  useful  to  a  city  I  love,  having  lived  many  years 
in  it  very  happily,  and  perhaps  to  some  of  our  towns 
in  America. 

FRANKLIN    AND    GENERAL    BRADDOCK. 

In  conversation  with  him  one  day  he  was  giving 
me  some  account  of  his  intended  progress.  "  After 
taking  Fort  Duquesne,"  says  he,  *«  I  am  to  proceed 
to  Niagara  ;  and,  having  taken  that,  to  Frontenac,  if 
the  season  will  allow  time,  and  I  suppose  it  will,  for 
Duquesne  can  hardly  detain  me  above  three  or  four 
days  ;  and  then  I  see  nothing  that  can  obstruct  my 
march  to  Niagara."  Having  before  revolved  in  my 
mind  the  long  line  his  army  must  make  in  their  march 
by  a  very  narrow  road,  to  be  cut  for  them  through  the 
woods  and  bushes,  and  also  what  I  had  read  of  a 
former  defeat  of  fifteen  hundred  French,  who  invaded 
the  Iroquois  country,  I  had  conceived  some  doubts 
and  some  fears  for  the  event  of  the  campaign.  But 
I  ventured  only  to  say  :  "To  be  sure,  sir,  if  you 
arrive  well  before  Duquesne  with  these  fine  troops, 
so  well  provided  with  artillery,  that  place,  not  yet 
completely  fortified,   and,  as  we  hear,  with   no  very 


GENERAL   BRADDOCK.  229 

strong  garrison,  can  probably  make  but  a  short 
resistance.  The  only  danger  I  apprehend  of  obstruc- 
tion to  your  march  is  from  ambuscades  of  Indians, 
who,  by  constant  practice,  are  dexterous  in  laying  and 
executing  them  ;  and  the  slender  line,  near  four  miles 
long,  which  your  army  must  make,  may  expose  it  to 
be  attacked  by  surprise  in  its  flanks,  and  to  be  cut  like 
a  thread  into  several  pieces,  which,  from  their  distance, 
cannot  come  up  in  time  to  support  each  other." 

He  smiled  at  my  ignorance,  and  replied  :  "  These 
savages  may,  indeed,  be  a  formidable  enemy  to  your 
raw  American  militia,  but  upon  the  king's  regular  and 
disciplined  troops,  sir,  it  is  impossible  they  should  make 
any  impression."  I  was  conscious  of  an  impropriety 
in  my  disputing  with  a  military  man  in  matters  of  his 
profession,  and  said  no  more.  The  enemy,  however, 
did  not  take  the  advantage  of  his  army  which  I  appre- 
hended its  long  line  of  march  exposed  it  to,  but  let  it 
advance  without  interruption  till  within  nine  miles  of 
the  place  ;  and  then,  when  more  in  a  body  (for  it 
had  just  passed  a  river  where  the  front  had  halted  till 
all  had  come  over),  and  in  a  more  open  part  of  the 
woods  than  any  it  had  passed,  attacked  its  advance 
guard  by  a  heavy  fire  from  behind  trees  and  bushes, 
which  was  the  first  intelligence  the  general  had  of  an 
enemy's  being  near  him.  This  guard  being  disordered, 
the  general  hurried  the  troops  up  to  their  assistance, 
which  was  done  in  great  confusion,  through  wagons, 
baggage,  and  cattle  ;  and  presently  the  fire  came  upon 
their  flank.  The  officers,  being  on  horseback,  were 
more  easily  distinguished,  picked  out  as  marks,  and 
fell  very  fast  ;  and  the  soldiers  were  crowded  together 
in  a  huddle,  having  or  hearing  no  orders,  and  standing 


230  BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

to  be  shot  at  till  two  thirds  of  them  were  killed  ;  and 
then,  being  seized  with  a  panic,  the  whole  fled  with 
precipitation. 

The  wagoners  took  each  a  horse  out  of  his  team, 
and  scampered  ;  their  example  was  immediately  fol- 
lowed by  others,  so  that  all  the  wagons,  provisions, 
artillery,  and  stores  were  left  to  the  enemy.  The 
general,  being  wounded,  was  brought  off  with  diffi- 
culty ;  his  secretary,  Mr.  Shirley,  was  killed  by  his 
side  ;  and  out  of  eighty-six  officers,  sixty -three  were 
killed  or  wounded,  and  seven  hundred  and  fourteen 
men  killed  out  of  eleven  hundred.  These  eleven 
hundred  had  been  picked  men  from  the  whole  army  ; 
the  rest  had  been  left  behind  with  Colonel  Dunbar, 
who  was  to  follow  with  the  heavier  part  of  the  stores, 
provisions,  and  baggage.  The  flyers,  not  being  pur- 
sued, arrived  at  Dunbar's  camp,  and  the  panic  they 
brought  with  them  instantly  seized  him  and  all  his 
people  ;  and  though  he  had  now  above  one  thousand 
men,  and  the  enemy  who  had  beaten  Braddock  did  not  at 
most  exceed  four  hundred  Indians  and  French  together, 
instead  of  proceeding  and  endeavoring  to  recover  some 
of  the  lost  honor,  he  ordered  all  the  stores,  ammuni- 
tion, etc.,  to  be  destroyed,  that  he  might  have  more 
horses  to  assist  his  flight  toward  the  settlements  and 
less  lumber  to  remove.  He  was  there  met  with 
requests  from  the  governors  of  Virginia,  Maryland, 
and  Pennsylvania,  that  he  would  post  his  troops  on 
the  frontiers  so  as  to  afford  some  protection  to  the 
inhabitants  ;  but  he  continued  his  hasty  march  through 
all  the  country,  not  thinking  himself  safe  till  he  arrived 
at  Philadelphia,  where  the  inhabitants  could  protect 
him.      This  whole  transaction  gave  us  Americans  the 


GENERAL    BRADDOCK.  23 I 

first  suspicion  that  our  exalted  ideas  of  the  prowess  of 
British  regulars  had  not  been  well  founded. 

In  their  first  march,  too,  from  their  landing  till  they 
got  beyond  the  settlements,  they  had  plundered  and 
stripped  the  inhabitants,  totally  ruining  some  poor 
families,  besides  insulting,  abusing,  and  confining  the 
people  if  they  remonstrated.  This  was  enough  to 
put  us  out  of  conceit  of  such  defenders,  if  we  had 
really  wanted  any.  How  different  was  the  conduct 
of  our  French  friends  in  1781,  who,  during  a  march 
through  the  most  inhabited  part  of  our  country  from 
Rhode  Island  to  Virginia,  near  seven  hundred  miles, 
occasioned  not  the  smallest  complaint  for  the  loss  of 
a  pig,  a  chicken,  or  even  an  apple. 

Before  we  had  the  news  of  this  defeat,  the  two 
Doctors  Bond  came  to  me  with  a  subscription  paper 
for  raising  money  to  defray  the  expense  of  a  grand 
firework,  which  it  was  intended  to  exhibit  at  a 
rejoicing  on  receipt  of  the  news  of  our  taking  Fort 
Duquesne.  I  looked  grave,  and  said  it  would,  I 
thought,  be  time  enough  to  prepare  for  the  rejoicing 
when  we  knew  we  should  have  occasion  to  rejoice. 
They  seemed  surprised  that  I  do  not  immediately 
comply  with  their  proposal.  "  Why,"  says  one  of 
them,  Jf  you  surely  don't  suppose  that  the  fort  will 
not  be  taken  t"  "  I  don't  know  that  it  will  not  be 
taken,  but  I  know  that  the  events  of  war  are  subject 
to  great  uncertainty."  I  gave  them  the  reasons  of 
my  doubting  ;  the  subscription  was  dropped,  and  the 
projectors  thereby  missed  the  mortification  they  would 
have  undergone  if  the  firework  had  been  prepared. 
Dr.  Bond,  on  some  other  occasion  afterward,  said  that 
he  did  not  like  Franklin's  forebodings. 


232  BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 


ADVICE    TO    AN    ARMY    CHAPLAIN. 

We  had  for  our  chaplain  a  zealous  Presbyterian 
minister,  Mr.  Beatty,  who  complained  to  me  that 
the  men  did  not  generally  attend  his  prayers  and  ex- 
hortations. When  they  enlisted,  they  were  promised, 
besides  pay  and  provisions,  a  gill  of  rum  a  day  which 
was  punctually  served  out  to  them,  half  in  the  morn- 
ing and  the  other  half  in  the  evening,  and  I  observed 
they  were  as  punctual  in  attending  to  receive  it ; 
upon  which  I  said  to  Mr.  Beatty  :  "  It  is,  perhaps, 
below  the  dignity  of  your  profession  to  act  as  stew- 
ard of  the  rum,  but  if  you  were  to  deal  it  out,  and 
only- just  after  prayers,  you  would  have  them  all 
about  you."  He  liked  the  thought,  undertook  the 
office,  and,  with  the  help  of  a  few  hands  to  measure 
out  the  liquor,  executed  it  to  satisfaction,  and  never 
were  prayers  more  generally  and  more  punctually 
attended  ;  so  that  I  thought  this  method  preferable 
to  the  punishment  inflicted  by  some  military  laws 
for  nonattendance  on  divine  service. 


FRANKLIN     BEFORE     THE     HOUSE     OF 
COMMONS. 

[From  the  Report  of  the  Examination,  published 
in    1767.] 

Q.    What  is  your  name,  and  place  of  abode  ? 
A.    Franklin,  of  Philadelphia. 


BEFORE   THE    HOUSE   OF   COMMONS.     233 

Q.  Do  the  Americans  pay  any  considerable  taxes 
among  themselves  ? 

A.      Certainly,  many,  and  very  heavy  taxes. 

Q.  What  are  the  present  taxes  in  Pennsylvania, 
laid  by  the  laws  of  the  colony  ? 

A.  There  are  taxes  on  all  estates  real  and  per- 
sonal ;  a  poll  tax  ;  a  tax  on  all  offices,  professions, 
trades,  and  businesses,  according  to  their  profits  ; 
an  excise  on  all  wine,  rum  and  other  spirits  ;  and  a 
duty  of  ten  pounds  per  head  on  all  negroes  imported, 
with  some  other  duties. 

Q.  For  what  purposes  are  those  taxes  laid  ? 

A.  For  the  support  of  the  civil  and  military  estab- 
lishments of  the  country,  and  to  discharge  the  heavy 
debt  contracted  in  the  last  war. 

Q.    How  long  are  those  taxes  to  continue  ? 

A.  Those  for  discharging  the  debt  are:  to  con- 
tinue till  1772,  and  longer  if  the  debt  should  not 
be  then  all  discharged.  The  others  must  always 
continue. 

Q.  Was  it  not  expected  that  the  debt  would  have 
been  sooner  discharged  ? 

A.  It  was,  when  the  peace  was  made  with  France 
and  Spain.  But,  a  fresh  war  breaking  out  with  the 
Indians,  a  fresh  load  of  debt  was  incurred  ;  and  the 
taxes,  of  course,  continued  longer  by  a  new  law. 

Q.  Are  not  all  the  people  very  able  to  pay  those 
taxes  ? 

A.  No.  The  frontier  counties,  all  along  the 
continent,  having  been  frequently  ravaged  by  the 
enemy  and  greatly  impoverished,  are  able  to  pay 
very  little  tax.  And  therefore,  in  consideration  of 
their  distresses,  our  late  tax  laws  do  expressly  favor 


234  BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

those  counties,  excusing  the  sufferers  ;  and  I  suppose 
the  same  is  done  in  other  governments. 

Q.  What  was  the  temper  of  America  toward 
Great  Britain  before  the  year  1763  ? 

A.  The  best  in  the  world.  They  submitted 
willingly  to  the  government  of  the  crown,  and  paid, 
in  their  courts,  obedience  to  the  acts  of  Parliament. 
Numerous  as  the  people  are  in  the  several  old  prov- 
inces, they  cost  you  nothing  in  forts,  citadels,  garri- 
sons, or  armies,  to  keep  them  in  subjection.  They 
were  governed  by  this  country  at  the  expense  only 
of  a  little  pen,  ink,  and  paper  ;  they  were  led  by  a 
thread.  They  had  not  only  a  respect,  but  an  affec- 
tion for  Great  Britain  ;  for  its  laws,  its  customs  and 
manners,  and  even  a  fondness  for  its  fashions,  that 
greatly  increased  the  commerce.  Natives  of  Britain 
were  always  treated  with  particular  regard  ;  to  be 
an  Old- England  man  was  of  itself  a  character  of 
some  respect,  and  gave  a  kind  of  rank  among  us. 

Q.    And  what  is  their  temper  now  ? 

A.    O,  very  much  altered. 

^K  ^K  *f*  ^  ^  ^  ^  ^F 

Q.  In  what  light  did  the  people  of  America  use 
to  consider  the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain  ? 

A.  They  considered  the  Parliament  as  the  great 
bulwark  and  security  of  their  liberties  and  privileges, 
and  always  spoke  of  it  with  the  utmost  respect  and 
veneration.  Arbitrary  ministers,  they  thought,  might 
possibly,  at  times,  attempt  to  oppress  them  ;  but  they 
relied  on  it  that  the  Parliament,  on  application,  would 
always  give  redress.  They  remembered,  with  grati- 
tude,   a   strong   instance    of   this,    when   a   bill    was 


BEFORE   THE   HOUSE   OF   COMMONS.     235 

brought  into  Parliament,  with  a  clause  to  make  royal 
instructions  laws  in  the  colonies,  which  the  House 
of  Commons  would  not  pass,  and  it  was  thrown 
out. 

Q.  And  have  they  not  still  the  same  respect  for 
Parliament  ? 

A.   No,  it  is  greatly  lessened. 

Q.   To  what  cause  is  that  owing  ? 

A.  To  a  concurrence  of  causes  ;  the  restraints 
lately  laid  on  their  trade  by  which  the  bringing  of 
foreign  gold  and  silver  into  the  colonies  was  pre- 
vented ;  the  prohibition  of  making  paper  money 
among  themselves,  and  then  demanding  a  new  and 
heavy  tax  by  stamps,  taking  away,  at  the  same  time, 
trials  by  juries,  and  refusing  to  receive  and  hear  their 
humble  petitions. 

Q.  Don't  you  think  they  would  submit  to  the 
Stamp  Act,  if  it  was  modified,  the  obnoxious  parts 
taken  out,  and  the  duty  reduced  to  some  particulars 
of  small  moment  ? 

A.   No,  they  will  never  submit  to  it. 

g.  If  the  Stamp  Act  should  be  repealed,  would 
it  induce  the  assemblies  of  America  to  acknowledge 
the  rights  of  Parliament  to  tax  them,  and  would  they 
erase  their  resolutions  ? 

A.   No,  never. 

Q.  Are  there  no  means  of  obliging  them  to  erase 
those  resolutions  ? 

A.  None  that  I  know  of ;  they  will  never  do  it, 
unless  compelled  by  force  of  arms. 

Q.  Is  there  a  power  on  earth  that  can  force  them 
to  erase  them  ? 


236  BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

A.  No  power,  how  great  soever,  can  force  men 
to  change  their  opinions. 

Q.  Do  they  consider  the  post-office  as  a  tax,  or 
as  a  regulation  ? 

A.  Not  as  a  tax,  but  as  a  regulation  and  con- 
veniency  ;  every  assembly  encouraged  it,  and  sup- 
ported it  in  its  infancy  by  grants  of  money,  which 
they  would  not  otherwise  have  done  ;  and  the 
people  have  always  paid  the  postage. 

Q.  When  did  you  receive  the  instructions  you 
mentioned  ? 

A.  I  brought  them  with  me,  when  I  came  to 
England,  about  fifteen  months  since. 

Q.  When  did  you  communicate  that  instruction 
to  the  minister  ? 

A.  Soon  after  my  arrival,  while  the  stamping  of 
America  was  under  consideration,  and  before  the 
bill  was  brought  in. 

Q.  Would  it  be  most  for  the  interest  of  Great 
Britain,  to  employ  the  hands  of  Virginia  in  tobacco, 
or  in  manufactures  ? 

A.    In  tobacco,  to  be  sure. 

Q.   What  used  to  be  the  pride  of  the  Americans  ? 

A.  To  indulge  in  the  fashions  and  manufactures 
of  Great  Britain. 

Q.    What  is  now  their  pride  ? 

A.  To  wear  their  old  clothes  over  again,  till  they 
can  make  new  ones. 

Withdrew. 


MATHER    BYLES. 

Mather  Byles  was,  to  his  contemporaries,  a  distin- 
guished pulpit  orator  and  poet,*but  he  is  best  remem- 
bered for  his  remarkable  wit  and  quickness  of  repartee. 
He  was  born  in  Boston,  March  15,  1707,  and 
died  there  July  5,  1788.  He  was,  of  course, 
graduated  at  Harvard  (1725),  and  equally,  of  course, 
studied  theology,  becoming  in  time  pastor  of  the 
Hollis  Street  Church  of  his  native  city,  where  he 
preached  sermons,  the  published  specimens  of  which 
show  command  of  language,  power  of  condensed 
expression,  and  a  vivid  imagination.  But  his  main 
ambition,  doubtless,  was  to  be  considered  a  great  poet 
and  literary  dictator,  like  Alexander  Pope,  with 
whom  he  corresponded.  Unfortunately  his  Poem  on 
the  Death  of  George  I.  (  1  7  2  7  ) ,  his  Poetical  Epistle 
to  Governor  Belcher  on  the  Death  of  His  Lady 
(1736),  and  his  Miscellaneous  Poems  (1744),  while 
they  sufficed  to  give  him  provincial  notoriety,  have 
proved  unreadable  to  subsequent  generations.  The 
specimen  we  give  of  his  verse-making  was  composed 
to  be  sung  on  a  vessel  in  which  he  was  entrapped 
(by  Governor  Belcher)  into  taking  a  voyage  without 
the  proper  accompaniment  of  a  prayer-book. 

Byles  was  a  consistent  Tory,  and  in  1776  left  his 
parish  on  that  account,  after  having  cowed  his  parish- 

237 


238  MATHER   BYLES. 

ioners  into  awed  silence  by  his  fiery  and  eloquent 
defence  of  his  principles.  In  1777  he  was  de- 
nounced as  an  enemy  of  his  country,  tried,  and  con- 
demned to  imprisonment  and  banishment  ;  but  he 
was  in  the  end  suffered  to  remain  under  guard  in  his  own 
house,  and  he  thus  lived  in  Boston  until  his  death. 


HYMN    WRITTEN    DURING   A    VOYAGE. 

[Poems   on  Several   Occasions.      1744.] 

Great  God  thy  works  our  wonder  raise  ; 

To  thee  our  swelling  notes  belong  ; 
While  skies  and  winds,  and  rocks  and  seas, 

Around  shall  echo  to  our  song. 

Thy  power  produced  this  mighty  frame, 
Aloud  to  thee  the  tempests  roar, 

Or  softer  breezes  tune  thy  name 
Gently  along  the  shelly  shore. 

Round  thee  the  scaly  nation  roves, 

Thy  opening  hands  their  joys  bestow, 

Through  all  the  blushing  coral  groves, 
These  silent  gay  retreats  below. 

See  the  broad  sun  forsake  the  skies, 

Glow  on  the  waves  and  downward  glide, 

Anon  Heaven  opens  all  its  eyes, 

And  star-beams  tremble  o'er  the  tide. 


HYMN  WRITTEN   DURING  A  VOYAGE.     239 

Each  various  scene,  or  day  or  night, 

Lord  !  points  to  thee  our  nourished  soul ; 

Thy  glories  fix  our  whole  delight ; 

So  the  touched  needle  courts  the  pole. 


JOSEPH    GREEN. 

Joseph  Green,  a  New  England  poet,  much  ad- 
mired by  his  contemporaries,  was  born  in  Boston  in 
1706,  and  died  in  London,  December  11,  1780. 
He  was  graduated  from  Harvard  at  twenty,  became  a 
successful  merchant  and  literary  amateur,  and  was  one 
of  the  prime  movers  in  the  agitations  of  the  sixties  that 
ultimately  led  to  independence.  But,  like  many  other 
good  men,  he  shrank  from  open  war,  and  he  was 
unfortunate  enough  to  receive  an  appointment  by 
Governor  Gage  in  1774,  as  one  of  the  so-called 
Mandamus  Council,  to  remodel  the  government  of 
the  colony  in  an  illiberal  way.  Though  he  did  not 
take  the  oath  of  office,  he  signed  the  loyal  address  in 
approval  of  Governor  Hutchinson,  and  was  therefore 
proscribed  and  banished  in  1776,  rinding  a  congenial 
home  for  his  last  years  in  England.  He  was  re- 
garded in  Massachusetts  as  the  best  lampooner  and 
political  satirist  of  his  generation  ;  and  as  a  wit,  unsur- 
passed, unless  it  were  by  his  friend,  Dr.  Byles.  His 
skits  and  parodies  are  by  no  means  so  remarkable  to 
modern  as  to  contemporary  readers,  but  the  two 
specimens  we  give  have  at  least  an  historical  value. 
Some  readers  may  be  interested  to  compare  the  lines 
on  Mr.  Old  Tenor  with  those  written  not  many  years 
ago  on  a  Confederate  note. 
240 


THE    PARSON'S    PSALM.  24I 


THE    PARSON'S    PSALM. 

[A   Parody  on   Mather   Byles's  Stanzas  written 
at  Sea.] 

In  David's  Psalms  an  oversight 

Byles  found  one  morning  at  his  tea. 

Alas  !   that  he  should  never  write 
A  proper  song  to  sing  at  sea. 

Thus  ruminating  on  his  seat, 

Ambitious  thoughts  at  length  prevailed. 
The  bard  determined  to  complete 

The  part  wherein  the  prophet  failed. 

He  sat  awhile  and  stroked  his  Muse,1 

Then  taking  up  his  tuneful  pen, 
Wrote  a  few  stanzas  for  the  use 

Of  his  seafaring  brethren. 

The  task  performed,  the  bard  content, 
Well  chosen  was  each  flowing  word  ; 

On  a  short  voyage  himself  he  went, 
To  hear  it  read  and  sung  on  board. 

Most  serious  Christians  do  aver, 

(Their  credit  sure  we  may  rely  on,) 

In  former  times  that  after  prayer, 
They  used  to  sing  a  song  of  Zion. 

1  Byles's  favorite  cat. 


242  JOSEPH    GREEN. 

Our  modern  parson  having  prayed, 
Unless  loud  fame  or  faith  beguiles, 

Sat  down,  took  out  his  book  and  said, 
"Let's  sing  a  psalm  of  Mather  Byles." 

At  first,  when  he  began  to  read, 

Their  heads  the  assembly  downward  hung, 
But  he  with  boldness  did  proceed, 

And  thus  he  read,  and  thus  they  sung. 


THE    PSALM. 

With  vast  amazement  we  survey 

The  wonders  of  the  deep, 
Where  mackerel  swim,  and  porpoise  play, 

And  crabs  and  lobsters  creep. 

Fish  of  all  kinds  inhabit  here, 

And  throng  the  dark  abode. 
Here  haddock,  hake,  and  flounders  are, 

And  eels,  and  perch,  and  cod. 

From  raging  winds  and  tempests  free, 

So  smoothly  as  we  pass, 
The  shining  surface  seams  to  be 

A  piece  of  Bristol  glass. 

But  when  the  winds  and  tempests  rise, 

And  foaming  billows  swell, 
The  vessel  mounts  above  the  skies, 

And  lower  sinks  than  hell. 


A    LAMENTATION.  243 

Our  heads  the  tottering  motion  feel, 

And  quickly  we  become 
Giddy  as  new-dropped  calves,  and  reel 

Like  Indians  drunk  with  rum. 

What  praises  then  are  due  that  we 

Thus  far  have  safely  got, 
Amarescoggin  tribe  to  see, 

And  tribe  of  Penobscot. 


A     LAMENTATION     FOR     OLD     TENOR 
CURRENCY. 

[A    Mournful    Lamentation    for    the    Sad    and 
Deplorable  Death  of  Mr.    Old  Tenor.] 

A  doleful  tale  prepare  to  hear, 

As  ever  yet  was  told  : 
The  like,  perhaps,  ne'er  reach' d  the  ear 

Of  either  young  or  old. 
'Tis  of  the  sad  and  woful  death 

Of  one  of  mighty  fame, 
Who  lately  hath  resigned  his  breath ; 

Old  Tenor  was  his  name. 

In  vain  ten  thousands  intercede, 

To  keep  him  from  the  grave  ; 
In  vain,  his  many  good  works  plead  ; 

Alas  !   they  cannot  save. 
The  powers  decree  and  die  he  must, 

It  is  the  common  lot, 
But  his  good  deeds,  when  he's  in  dust, 

Shall  never  be  forgot. 


244  JOSEPH    GREEN. 

He  made  our  wives  and  daughters  fine, 

And  pleased  everybody  ; 
He  gave  the  rich  their  costly  wine, 

The  poor  their  flip  and  toddy. 
The  laborer  he  set  to  work ; 

In  ease  maintained  the  great  : 
He  found  us  mutton,  beef,  and  pork, 

And  everything  we  eat. 


To  fruitful  fields  by  swift  degrees, 

He  turned  our  desert  land  : 
Where  once  naught  stood  but  rocks  and  trees, 

Now  spacious  cities  stand. 
He  built  us  houses  strong  and  high, 

Of  wood,  and  brick,  and  stone; 
The  furniture  he  did  supply  ; 

But  now,  alas  !   he's  gone. 


The  merchants,  too,  those  topping  folks, 

To  him  owe  all  their  riches  ; 
Their  ruffles,  lace,  and  scarlet  cloaks, 

And  eke  their  velvet  breeches. 
He  launched  their  ships  into  the  main, 

To  visit  distant  shores  ; 
And  brought  them  back,  full  fraught  with  gain, 

Which  much  increased  their  stores. 


Led  on  by  him,  our  soldiers  bold 
Against  the  foe  advance; 

And  took,  in  spite  of  wet  and  cold, 
Strong  Cape  Breton  from  France. 


A    LAMENTATION.  245 

Who  from  that  fort  the  French  did  drive, 

Shall  he  so  soon  be  slain  ? 
While  they,  alas  !   remain  alive, 

Who  gave  it  back  again? 


From  house  to  house,  and  place  to  place, 

In  paper  doublet  clad, 
He  passed  and  where  he  showed  his  face, 

He  made  the  heart  full  glad. 
But  cruel  death,  that  spareth  none, 

Hath  robbed  us  of  him  too; 
Who  through  the  land  so  long  hath  gone, 

No  longer  now  must  go. 


In  senate  he,  like  Caesar,  fell, 

Pierced  through  with  many  a  wound. 
He  sunk,  ah,  doleful  tale  to  tell  ! 

The  members  sitting  round  : 
And  ever  since  that  fatal  day 

O  !   had  it  never  been, 
Closely  confined  at  home  he  lay, 

And  scarce  was  ever  seen, 


Until  the  last  of  March,  when  he 

Submitted  unto  fate ; 
In  anno  regis  twenty-three, 

^tatis  forty-eight. 
Forever  gloomy  be  that  day, 

When  he  gave  up  the  ghost ; 
For  by  his  death,  oh  !  who  can  say, 

What  hath  New  England  lost? 


246  JOSEPH    GREEN. 

Then,  good  Old  Tenor,  fare  thee  well, 

Since  thou  art  dead  and  gone ; 
We  mourn  thy  fate,  e'en  while  we  tell 

The  good  things  thou  hast  done, 
Since  the  bright  beams  of  yonder  sun 

Did  on  New  England  shine, 
In  all  the  land,  there  ne'er  was  known 

A  death  so  mourned  as  thine. 

Of  every  rank  are  many  seen, 

Thy  downfall  to  deplore; 
For  'tis  well  known  that  thou  hast  been 

A  friend  to  rich  and  poor. 
We'll  o'er  thee  raise  a  silver  tomb, 

Long  may  that  tomb  remain. 
To  bless  our  eyes  for  years  to  come, 

But  wishes,  ah  !  are  vain. 

And  so  God  bless  our  noble  state, 

And  save  us  all  from  harm, 
And  grant  us  food  enough  to  eat, 

And  clothes  to  keep  us  warm. 
Send  us  a  lasting  peace,  and  keep 

The  times  from  growing  worse; 
And  let  us  all  in  safety  sleep, 

With  silver  in  our  purse. 


JOHN    OSBORN. 

John  Osborn  was  the  son  of  a  New  England  clergy- 
man whose  Arminian  leanings  had  caused  him  to  be 
dismissed  from  his  parish.  He  was  born  in  Sandwich, 
Massachusetts,  in  171 3,  and  died  at  Middletown, 
Connecticut,  forty  years  later.  Graduating  at  Har- 
vard College  in  1735,  he  studied  theology,  but  falling 
under  suspicion  of  heresy,  like  his  father,  he  was  re- 
fused ordination.  He  then  studied  medicine,  was 
admitted  to  practice,  declined  a  tutorship  at  Harvard 
on  account  of  the  celibacy  then  required  there,  and 
marrying,  removed  to  Middletown,  where  he  spent 
the  rest  of  his  life.  He  enjoyed  considerable  colo- 
nial reputation  as  a  poet,  based  mainly  on  the  Whal- 
ing Song  here  given,  which  is  said  to  have  long  been 
popular  on  the  hardy  vessels  that  tracked  the  Pacific 
in  search  of  their  lucrative  prey.  Osborn' s  other 
verses  are  imitative  and  bad,  but  a  few  stanzas  of  his 
song  seem  to  have  a  truly  poetic  ring. 

When  eastward,  clear  of  Newfoundland, 

We  stem  the  frozen  pole, 
We  see  the  icy  islands  stand, 

The  northern  billows  roll, 

may  not  be  great  poetry,  but  it  is  better   than  most 
other  colonials  could  write.      Yet  Osborn' s  produc- 
tion is  sometimes  spoken  of  with  contempt,  as,  for  ex- 
ample, by  the  late  Professor  Moses  Coit  Tyler. 
247 


248  JOHN   OSBORN. 


A    WHALING   SONG. 

[Preserved  in  Kettell's   "  Specimens    of    Ameri- 
can Poetry."    1829.] 

When  spring  returns  with  western  gales, 

And  gentle  breezes  sweep 
The  ruffling  seas,  we  spread  our  sails 

To  plough  the  watery  deep. 

For  killing  northern  whales  prepared, 

Our  nimble  boats  on  board, 
With  craft  and  rum  (our  chief  regard) 

And  good  provisions  stored. 

Cape  Cod,  our  dearest  native  land, 

We  leave  astern,  and  lose 
Its  sinking  cliffs  and  lessening  sands 

While  Zephyr  gently  blows. 

Bold,  hardy  men,  with  blooming  age, 

Our  sandy  shores  produce  ; 
With  monstrous  fish  they  dare  engage, 

And  dangerous  callings  choose. 

Now  towards  the  early  dawning  east 

We  speed  our  course  away, 
With  eager  minds  and  joyful  hearts, 

To  meet  the  rising  day. 

Then  as  we  turn  our  wandering  eyes, 
We  view  one  constant  show  ; 


A  WHALING   SONG.  249 

Above,  around,  the  circling  skies, 
The  rolling  seas  below. 

When  eastward,  clear  of  Newfoundland, 

We  stem  the  frozen  pole, 
We  see  the  icy  islands  stand, 

The  northern  billows  roll. 

As  to  the  north  we  make  our  way, 

Surprising  scenes  we  find  ; 
We  lengthen  out  the  tedious  day, 

And  leave  the  night  behind. 

Now  see  the  northern  regions,  where 

Eternal  winter  reigns  : 
One  day  and  night  fills  up  the  year, 

And  endless  cold  maintains. 

We  view  the  monsters  of  the  deep, 
Great  whales  in  numerous  swarms  ; 

And  creatures  there,  that  play  and  leap, 
Of  strange,  unusual  forms. 

When  in  our  station  we  are  placed, 

And  whales  around  us  play, 
We  launch  our  boats  into  the  main, 

And  swiftly  chase  our  prey. 

In  haste  we  ply  our  nimble  oars, 

For  an  assault  designed  ; 
The  sea  beneath  us  foams  and  roars, 

And  leaves  a  wake  behind. 


250  JOHN   OSBORN. 

A  mighty  whale  we  rush  upon, 

And  in  our  irons  throw  : 
She  sinks  her  monstrous  body  down 

Among  the  waves  below. 

And  when  she  rises  out  again, 

We  soon  renew  the  fight  ; 
Thrust  our  sharp  lances  in  amain, 

And  all  her  rage  excite. 

Enraged,  she  makes  a  mighty  bound  ; 

Thick  foams  the  whitened  sea  ; 
The  waves  in  circles  rise  around, 

And  widening  roll  away. 

She  thrashes  with  her  tail  around, 
And  blows  her  reddening  breath  ; 

She  breaks  the  air,  a  deafening  sound, 
While  ocean  groans  beneath. 

From  numerous  wounds,  with  crimson  flood, 

She  stains  the  frothy  seas, 
And  gasps,  and  blows  her  latest  blood, 

While  quivering  life  decays. 

With  joyful  hearts  we  see  her  die, 

And  on  the  surface  lay  ; 
While  all  with  eager  haste  apply 

To  save  our  deathful  prey. 


THOMAS    HUTCHINSON. 

Thomas  Hutchinson,  last  royal  governor  of 
Massachusetts,  and  the  best  of  the  colonial  historians, 
was  born  in  Boston  September  9,  171 1,  and  died 
at  Brompton,  England,  June  3,  1780.  He  was  a 
descendant  of  that  Ann  Hutchinson  whose  trial 
and  banishment  for  heresy  he  describes  in  an  ex- 
tract here  given.  His  great-grandfather  Edward 
had  returned  to  Massachusetts,  and  the  family  had 
attained  distinction  and  wealth.  Their  most  noted 
representative  was  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1727. 
Broad-minded  and  receptive  rather  than  studious, 
he  made  himself  a  liberally  educated  man,  but  no 
pedantic  scholar.  Four  years  in  his  father's  counting- 
house  gave  him  business  training  and  made  him 
methodically  exact.  In  1737  he  was  chosen  select- 
man for  Boston,  and  almost  immediately  afterward, 
representative  to  the  General  Court,  in  which  he 
vainly  resisted  the  attempt  to  issue  a  depreciated 
paper  currency.  His  wise  and  patriotic  counsels 
were  little  heeded,  but  his  integrity  and  ability  ex- 
torted recognition,  and  his  prominence  both  in  the 
local  politics  of  the  colony  and  in  its  relations  to  the 
mother  country,  led,  in  1756,  to  his  appointment  as 
lieutenant-governor,  to  which  was  shortly  added  the 
office  of  chief  justice  (1760).  He  was  the  greatest 
financier  of  the  colonial  period,  and  a  just  adminis- 

251 


252  THOMAS   HUTCHINSON. 

trator,  but  his  energetic  administration  made  him 
unpopular.  His  house  was  sacked  by  a  mob  in 
1765,  and  his  carefully  collected  library  destroyed, 
an  irreparable  loss  to  American  historians.  His  con- 
duct of  affairs  during  the  troubled  years  that  followed 
was  vigorous  and  consistent  with  his  principles,  which 
were  not,  however,  those  destined  to  triumph.  In 
1770  he  was  made  governor,  but  four  years  later 
was  superseded  by  General  Gage,  and  went  to 
England,  followed  by  the  execrations  of  the  people 
he  had  endeavored  to  serve.  All  his  colonial  prop- 
erty was  confiscated.  Hutchinson,  although  a  con- 
vinced Tory,  was  an  ardent  patriot,  whose  Diary  and 
Letters  (2  vols.,  1 884-1 886)  show  how  gladly  he 
would  have  returned  to  America.  His  History  of 
Massachusetts  Bay  (2  vols.,  1 764-1 767,  Vol.  3, 
1828)  bears  witness  to  his  judicial  mind,  and  to  a 
distinct  talent  for  historical  research,  but  its  style  is 
rather  heavy,  and  there  is  a  conspicuous  lack  of  the  his- 
torical imagination.  The  work  is,  however,  regarded 
as  an  indispensable  authority  by  historical  students. 


MRS.    HUTCHINSON'S    HERESIES. 

[From  the   "History,"    Chap.   I.] 

There  came  over  with  Mr.  Cotton,  or  about  the 
same  time,  Mr.  Hutchinson  and  his  family,  who 
had  lived  at  Alford,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Boston. 
Mr.  Hutchinson  had  a  good  estate,  and  was  of  good 
reputation.  His  wife,  as  Mr.  Cotton  says,  "  was 
well  beloved,  and  all  the  faithful  embraced  her  con- 


MRS.    HUTCHINSON'S    HERESIES.        253 

ference  and  blessed  God  for  her  fruitful  discourses." 
After  she  came  to  New -England,  she  was  treated 
with  respect,  and  much  notice  was  taken  of  her 
by  Mr.  Cotton,  and  other  principal  persons,  and 
particularly  by  Mr.  Vane  the  governor.  Her  hus- 
band served  in  the  General  Court  several  elections  as 
a  representative  for  Boston,  until  he  was  excused  at 
the  desire  of  the  church.  So  much  respect  seems  to 
have  increased  her  natural  vanity.  Countenanced 
and  encouraged  by  Mr.  Vane  and  Mr.  Cotton,  she 
advanced  doctrines  and  opinions  which  involved  the 
colony  in  disputes  and  contentions  ;  and,  being  im- 
proved to  civil  as  well  as  religious  purposes,  had  like 
to  have  produced  ruin  both  to  church  and  state. 
The  vigilance  of  some,  of  whom  Mr.  Winthrop  was 
the  chief,  prevented  and  turned  the  ruin  from  the 
country,  upon  herself  and  many  of  her  family  and 
particular  friends.  Mr.  Wheelwright,  a  zealous 
minister,  of  character  for  learning  and  piety,  was  her 
brother-in-law,  and  firmly  attached  to  her,  and  finally 
suffered  with  her.  Besides  the  meetings  for  public 
worship  on  the  Lord's  day,  the  stated  lecture  every 
Thursday  in  Boston,  and  other  occasional  lectures  in 
other  towns,  there  were  frequent  private  meetings  of 
the  brethren  of  the  churches  for  religious  exercises. 
Mrs.  Hutchinson  thought  fit  to  set  up  a  meeting  for 
the  sisters  also,  where  she  repeated  the  sermons 
preached  the  Lord's  day  before,  adding  her  remarks 
and  expositions.  Her  lectures  made  much  noise, 
and  fifty  or  eighty  principal  women  attended  them. 
At  first  they  were  generally  approved  of.  After 
some  time,  it  appeared  she  had  distinguished  the 
ministers     and    members    of    churches    through    the 


254  THOMAS    HUTCHINSON. 

country,  a  small  part  of  them  under  a  covenant  of 
grace,  the  rest  under  a  convenant  of  works.  The 
whole  colony  was  soon  divided  into  two  parties, 
and  however  distant  one  party  was  from  the  other 
in  principle,  they  were  still  more  so  in  affection. 
The  two  capital  errors  with  which  she  was  charged, 
were  these  :  That  the  Holy  Ghost  dwells  per- 
sonally in  a  justified  person  ;  and,  that  nothing  of 
sanctification  can  help  to  evidence  to  believers  their 
justification.  From  these  two  a  great  number  of 
others  were  said  to  flow,  which  were  enumerated 
and  condemned  at  a  synod  held  the  next  year. 


HER    TRIAL. 
[From  the  Same.] 

Mrs.  Hutchinson  was  next  called  to  her  trial, 
before  the  whole  court  and  many  of  the  elders.  An 
ancient  manuscript  of  the  trial  at  large  having  been 
preserved,  discovers  nothing  in  her  conduct  but  what 
might  naturally  be  expected  from  a  high  degree  of 
enthusiasm.  Her  notions  of  revelations  do  not  seem 
to  have  been  altogether  discountenanced  by  Mr. 
Cotton  himself.  Her  sentence  upon  record  stands 
thus  :  "  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  the  wife  of  Mr.  William 
Hutchinson,  being  convented  for  traducing  the  min- 
isters and  their  ministry  in  the  country,  she  declared 
voluntarily  her  revelation,  and  that  she  should  be 
delivered,  and  the  court  ruined  with  her  posterity,  and 
thereupon  was  banished,  and  in  the  meanwhile  was 
committed  to  Mr.  Joseph  Weld  (of  Roxbury)  until 


HER   TRIAL.  255 

the  court  shall  dispose  of  her.  "  Having  received 
her  sentence  from  the  court,  she  had  a  further  trial 
to  go  through  in  the  church.  She  was  first  admon- 
ished. Mr.  Cotton  says  that  Mr.  Davenport  and 
he  imagined  they  had  convinced  her  of  her  errors, 
and  she  presented  what  was  called  a  recantation 
under  her  hand,  but  at  the  same  time  professed  that 
she  never  was  of  any  other  judgment  than  what  she 
now  held  forth.  The  recantation  is  not  preserved. 
She  had,  no  doubt,  some  fine-spun  distinctions,  too 
commonly  made  use  of  in  theological  controversies, 
to  serve  as  a  subterfuge  if  there  be  occasion,  and 
perhaps,  as  many  other  enthusiasts  have  done,  she 
considered  herself  divinely  commissioned  for  some 
great  purpose,  to  obtain  which  she  might  think  those 
windings,  subtleties,  and  insinuations  lawful  which 
will  hardly  consist  with  the  rules  of  morality.  No 
wonder  she  was  immoderately  vain  when  she  found 
magistrates  and  ministers  embracing  the  novelties 
advanced  by  her.  The  whole  Church  of  Boston,  a 
few  members  excepted,  were  her  converts.  At 
length  she  forsook  the  public  assemblies,  and  set  up 
what  she  called  a  purer  worship   in  her  own  family. 


HER    FATE. 

[From  the  Same.] 

Mr.  Hutchinson  her  husband  sold  his  estate,  and 
removed  with  his  wife  and  family  first  to  Aquidneck 
(Rhode  Island)  being  one  of  the  purchasers  of  that 
island  from  the  Indians,  where,  by  the  influence  of 


256  THOMAS    HUTCHINSON. 

his  wife,  the  people  laid  aside  Mr.  Coddington,  and 
three  other  magistrates,  and  chose  him  for  their  sole 
ruler;  but  he  dying  about  the  year  1642,  and  she 
being  dissatisfied  with  the  people  of  the  place,  she 
removed  to  the  Dutch  country  beyond  New-Haven, 
and  the  next  year  she  and  all  her  family  which  were 
with  her,  being  16  persons,  were  killed  by  the  In- 
dians, except  one  daughter,  whom  they  carried  into 
captivity. 


RELIGIOUS    OBSERVANCES. 

[From  the  Same,    Chap.  IV.] 

The  ministers  of  the  several  churches  in  the  town  of 
Boston  have  ever  been  supported  by  a  free  weekly  con- 
tribution. I  have  seen  a  letter  from  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal ministers  of  the  colony  expressing  some  doubts 
of  the  lawfulness  of  receiving  a  support  in  any  other 
way.  In  the  country  towns,  compulsory  laws  were 
found  necessary;  and  in  the  year  1654  the  county 
courts  were  empowered  to  assess  upon  the  inhabitants 
of  the  several  towns  which  neglected  the  support  of 
the  ministry  a  sum  sufficient  to  make  up  the  defect. 

In  Boston,  after  prayer  and  before  singing,  it  was 
the  practice  for  several  years  for  the  minister  to  read 
and  expound  a  chapter.  Whether  it  was  because  this 
carried  the  service  to  too  great  a  length,  or  any  other 
reason  could  be  given  for  it,  in  a  few  years  it  was 
laid  aside,  except  when  it  came  in  place  of  a  sermon. 
Exceptions  (may  we  not  say  cavils  ?)  have  been 
made,    by    some    learned,    serious    ministers,   against 


RELIGIOUS   OBSERVANCES.  257 

reading  the  Scriptures  as  part  of  the  divine  service 
without  an  exposition.  The  other  parts  of  religious 
public  worship,  and  the  manner  of  administering  the 
sacraments,  not  differing  from  what  is  at  this  day 
the  practice  of  the  churches  of  New  England  and  of 
the  church  of  Scotland,  it  is  unnecessary  to  take  any 
notice  of  them. 

From  a  sacred  regard  to  the  religion  of  the  Chris- 
tian Sabbath,  a  scruple  arose  of  the  lawfulness  of 
calling  the  first  day  of  the  week  Sunday  ;  and  they 
always,  upon  any  occasion,  whether  in  a  civil  or 
religious  relation  to  it,  styled  it  either  the  Lord's-day 
or  the  Sabbath.  As  the  exception  to  the  word  Sun- 
day was  founded  upon  its  superstitious,  idolatrous 
origin,  the  same  scruple  naturally  followed  with  respect 
to  the  names  of  all  the  other  days  of  the  week,  and 
of  most  of  the  months,  which  had  the  same  origin  ; 
accordingly  they  changed  Monday,  Tuesday,  etc. 
into  the  second  and  third  days  of  the  week  ;  and 
instead  of  March  and  April,  used  the  first  and  second 
months  ;  and  instead  of  the  third  Tuesday  in  May, 
the  language  was,  the  third  third  day  of  the  third 
month  ;  and  so  of  the  rest.  All  their  records  and 
other  writings  are  dated  in  the  common  form,  which 
they  brought  from  England  with  them,  until  the  year 
1636,  when  Mr.  Vane  was  governor  ;  but  after  that, 
the  alteration  seems  to  have  been  very  strictly  observed 
in  all  public  and  private  writings  and  discourse,  for 
many  years  together.  In  the  interregnum  it  much 
obtained  in  England  ;  but  the  scruple  there  went  off 
at  once,  upon  the  Restoration  ;  here,  it  abated  ;  and 
it  continues  scarce  anywhere  at  this  day,  except 
among  the  people  called  Quakers.      Perhaps  the  great 


258  THOMAS   HUTCHINSON. 

dislike  to  some  other  peculiarities  of  that  people  caused 
the  decline  of  that  custom  in  the  colony,  and  made 
them  consider  the  singularity  in  the  same  light  with 
some  others  of  the  same  nature,  which  they  con- 
demned. (They  began  the  Sabbath  the  evening  of 
the  last  day  of  the  week.  It  was  some  time  before 
this  custom  was  settled.  Mr.  Hooker,  in  a  letter 
without  date,  but  wrote  about  the  year  1640,  says, 
"  The  question  touching  the  beginning  of  the  Sabbath 
is  now  on  foot  among  us,  hath  once  been  spoken  to> 
and  we  are  to  give  in  our  arguments  each  to  the 
other,  so  that  we  may  ripen  our  thoughts  touching 
that  truth,  and  if  the  Lord  will  it  may  more  fully 
appear."  And  in  another  letter,  March,  1640, 
"Mr.  Huit  hath  not  answered  our  arguments  against 
the  beginning  the  Sabbath  at  morning.") 

That  everything  approaching  to  an  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  authority  of  the  Pope,  and  his  power  of 
canonization,  might  be  avoided,  they  never  used  the 
addition  of  saint  when  they  spake  of  the  Apostles  and 
the  ancient  Fathers  of  the  Christian  Church,  and  even 
the  usual  names  of  places  were  made  to  conform. 
The  island  of  Saint  Christophers  was  always  written 
Christophers,  and  by  the  same  rule  all  other  places  to 
which  "  Saint  "  had  been  prefixed.  If  any  exception 
was  made,  an  answer  was  ready  :  Abraham,  Isaac 
and  Jacob  had  as  good  right  to  this  appellation  as 
Peter,  James  and  John. 

They  laid  aside  the  fasts  and  feasts  of  the  Church 
of  England,  and  appointed  frequently,  as  occasion 
required,  days  of  fasting  and  thanksgiving  ;  but,  be- 
sides these  occasional  fasts  and  thanksgivings,  they 
constantly,  every  spring,  appointed  a  day  for  fasting 


RELIGIOUS   OBSERVANCES.  259 

and  prayer,  to  implore  the  divine  blessings  upon  their 
affairs  in  the  ensuing  year  ;  and  in  the  fall,  a  day  of 
thanksgiving  and  public  acknowledgment  of  the  favors 
conferred  upon  them  in  the  year  past.  If  they  more 
readily  fell  into  this  practice  from  the  example  of  the 
People  of  God  of  old,  yet  they  might  well  have  been 
justified  without  any  example.  It  has  continued 
without  interruption,  I  suppose,  in  any  one  instance, 
down  to  this  day.  This  is  a  custom  to  which  no 
devout  person  of  any  sect  will  take  exception.  By 
a  law  of  the  colony,  every  person  absenting  himself 
from  the  public  worship,  on  these  days,  without  suf- 
ficient excuse,  was  liable  to  five  shillings  fine.  It 
would  have  been  as  well,  perhaps,  if  this  provision 
had  been    omitted. 

These  were  the  principal  of  the  special  ecclesiasti- 
cal or  religious  customs.  There  were  some  attempts 
to  introduce  singularities  into  some  of  the  churches  ; 
particularly  Mr.  Davenport,  of  New  Haven,  who 
afterward  removed  to  Boston,  required  all  his  congre- 
gation to  stand  up  whilst  the  text  was  naming  ;  the 
principal  reason  which  was  given  for  it  being  that  it 
was  the  word  of  God,  and  deserved  peculiar  honor  ; 
and  Mr.  Williams,  of  Salem,  required  all  the  women 
of  his  congregation  to  wear  veils  ;  but  neither  of 
these  customs  spread,  or  were  of  any  long  continu- 
ance. It  was  observed,  as  to  the  latter,  that  so 
uncouth  an  appearance,  contrary  to  the  practice  of 
the  English  nation,  would  probably  draw  more  eyes 
than  if  they  were  dressed  like  other  women.  Mr. 
Cotton,  of  Boston,  happening  to  preach  at  Salem  soon 
after  this  custom  began,  he  convinced  his  hearers  that 
it  had  no  sufficient  foundation  in  the  Scriptures  :  the 


260  THOMAS    HUTCHINSON. 

married  women  had  no  pretence  to  wear  veils  as  vir- 
gins ;  neither  married  nor  unmarried  would  choose  to 
do  it  from  the  example  of  Tamar  the  harlot,  nor 
need  they  do  it  for  such  purpose  as  Ruth  did  in  her 
widowhood.  His  sermon  had  so  good  an  effect  that 
they  were  all  ashamed  of  their  veils,  and  never 
appeared  covered  with  them  afterward. 


JOHN    BARNARD. 

The  Rev.  John  Barnard  of  Marblehead  is  interest- 
ing to  us  precisely  because  he  is  not  distinguished. 
Few  historians  or  students  of  our  literature,  always 
excepting  Professor  Tyler,  seem  to  be  aware  of  his 
existence.  He  is  a  type  of  the  Massachusetts  Puritan, 
as  the  eighteenth  century  made  him,  the  new  wine 
straining  the  old  bottles  far  more  than  he  or  his  fellows 
realized.  We  should  know  little  of  him,  save  the  facts 
to  be  gleaned  from  Parish  records  and  tombstones, 
were  it  not  for  the  autobiography  from  which  the  fol- 
lowing extracts  are  taken.  This  was  prepared  appar- 
ently when  the  author  was  in  his  eighty-fifth  year,  at 
the  request  of  President  Stiles  of  Yale,  who  wrote  to 
Mr.  Barnard  at  Newport,  October  3,  1767  :  "With 
great  pleasure  I  have  read  your  life  again  and  again. 
It  has  proved  a  feast  to  me.  So  long  a  life  of  a  gen- 
tleman of  your  figure  and  extensive  connections  must 
contain  much  ecclesiastical  history,  abound  in  political 
anecdote,  and  involve  very  interesting  participations 
in  the  public  occurrences  and  transactions  concerning 
which  you  have  the  honor  to  say  quorum  pars  mag?ia 
fui."  But  interesting  as  the  narrative  is,  it  lay  long 
neglected,  and  even  suffered  some  mutilation.  It  was 
at  last  printed  in  Vol.  5  of  the  Third  Series  of 
the  Collections  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society 
in  1836. 

261 


262  JOHN    BARNARD. 

From  this  autobiography  we  learn  that  Barnard  was 
born  in  Boston  on  November  6,  1681,  and  that  at 
the  age  of  eight  he  was  sent  to  the  school  under  the 
direction  of  the  famous  Mr.  Ezekiel  Cheever.  At 
fifteen  he  entered  Harvard  College,  graduated  at  nine- 
teen, studied  for  the  ministry,  and  by  1702  could 
say  "I  became  almost  a  constant  preacher  both 
on  week  days  and  on  the  Lord's  Day,  privately 
and  publicly,  insomuch  as  that  I  have  sometime 
preached  every  day  of  the  week  but  Saturdays, 
and  both  parts  of  the  Sabbath,  before  and  after;  and 
as  my  friends  who  heard  me  said  to  good  acceptance." 

Barnard  took  his  Master's  degree  in  1703,  and  in 
1704  became  assistant  in  the  church  at  Yarmouth. 
He  accompanied  the  Acadian  Expedition  in  1707  as 
chaplain,  experienced  the  usual  "signal  deliverances, " 
visited  the  Barbadoes  and  England  in  1709,  returned 
to  Massachusetts  after  more  than  a  year's  absence, 
and  in  17 14  became  assistant  at  Marblehead,  where 
he  was  formally  ordained  in  1 7 1 6,  and  continued  his 
connection  with  the  parish  till  his  death  on  the  24th 
of  January,  1770. 


NEW    ENGLAND    SCHOOLDAYS. 

In  the  spring  of  my  eighth  year  I  was  sent  to 
the  grammar  school,  under  the  tuition  of  the  aged, 
venerable  and  justly  famous  Mr.  Ezekiel  Cheever. 
But  after  a  few  weeks  an  odd  accident  drove  me  from 
the  school.  There  was  an  older  lad  entered  the  school 
the  same  week  with  me  ;  we  strove  who  should  outdo ; 
and  he  beat  me  by  the  help  of  a  brother  in  the  upper 


NEW  ENGLAND  SCHOOLDAYS.   263 

class,  who  stood  behind  master  with  the  Accidence 
open  for  him  to  read  out  of;  by  which  means  he 
could  recite  his  .  .  .  three  and  four  times  in  a  fore- 
noon, and  the  same  in  the  afternoon  ;  but  I  who  had  no 
such  help,  and  was  obliged  to  commit  all  to  memory, 
could  not  keep  pace  with  him ;  so  that  he  would  be 
always  one  lesson  before  me.  My  ambition  could 
not  bear  to  be  outdone,  and  in  such  a  fraudulent  man- 
ner, and  therefore  I  left  the  school.  About  this  time 
arrived  a  dissenting  minister  from  England,  who  opened 
a  private  school  for  reading,  writing  and  Latin.  My 
good  father  put  me  under  his  tuition,  with  whom  I 
spent  a  year  and  a  half.  The  gentleman  receiving 
but  little  encouragement,  threw  up  his  school,  and 
returned  me  to  my  father,  and  again  I  was  sent  to 
my  aged  Mr.  Cheever,  who  placed  me  in  the  lowest 
class ;  but  finding  I  soon  read  through  my  .  .  .  ,  in 
a  few  weeks  he  advanced  me  to  the  .  .  .  ,  and  the 
next  year  made  me  the  head  of  it. 

In  the  time  of  my  absence  from  Mr.  Cheever,  it 
pleased  God  to  take  to  himself  my  dear  mother,  who 
was  not  only  a  very  virtuous,  but  a  very  intelligent 
woman.  She  was  exceedingly  fond  of  my  learning, 
and  taught  me  to  pray.  My  good  father  also  in- 
structed me,  and  made  a  little  closet  for  me  to  retire 
to  for  my  morning  and  evening  devotion.  But,  alas ! 
how  childish  and  hypocritical  were  all  my  pretensions 
to  piety,  there  being  little  or  no  serious  thoughts  of 
God  and  religion  in  me. 

Though  my  master  advanced  me,  as  above,  yet  I 
was  a  very  naughty  boy,  much  given  to  play,  inso- 
much that  he  at  length  openly  declared,  '«  You  Barnard, 


264  JOHN    BARNARD. 

I  know  you  can  do  well  enough  if  you  will ;  but  you 
are  so  full  of  play  that  you  hinder  your  classmates 
from  getting  their  lessons ;  and  therefore,  if  any  of 
them  cannot  perform  their  duty,  I  shall  correct  you 
for  it."  One  unlucky  day,  one  of  my  classmates  did 
not  look  into  his  book,  and  therefore  could  not  say 
his  lesson,  though  I  called  upon  him  once  and  again 
to  mind  his  book ;  upon  which  our  master  beat  me. 
I  told  master  the  reason  why  he  could  not  say  his 
lesson  was,  his  declaring  he  would  beat  me  if  any  of 
the  class  were  wanting  in  their  duty  ;  since  which 
this  boy  would  not  look  into  his  book,  though  I  called 
upon  him  to  mind  his  book,  as  the  class  could  witness. 
The  boy  was  pleased  with  my  being  corrected,  and 
persisted  in  his  neglect,  for  which  I  was  still  corrected, 
and  that  for  several  days.  I  thought,  in  justice,  I  ought 
to  correct  the  boy,  and  compel  him  to  a  better  temper ; 
and  therefore,  after  school  was  done,  I  went  up  to 
him,  and  told  him  I  had  been  beaten  several  times 
for  his  neglect ;  and  since  master  would  not  correct 
him  I  would,  and  I  should  do  so  as  often  as  I  was 
corrected  for  him ;  and  then  drubbed  him  heartily. 
The  boy  never  came  to  school  any  more,  and  so  that 
unhappy  affair  ended. 

Though  I  was  often  beaten  for  my  play,  and  my 
little  roguish  tricks,  yet  I  don't  remember  that  I  was 
ever  beaten  for  my  book  more  than  once  or  twice. 
One  of  these  was  upon  this  occasion.  Master  put 
our  class  upon  turning  ^Esop's  Fables  into  Latin  verse. 
Some  dull  fellows  made  a  shift  to  perform  this  to 
acceptance  ;  but  I  was  so  much  duller  at  this  exer- 
cise, that  I  could  make  nothing  of  it  ;  for  which 
master  corrected   me,  and   this  he  did  two  or   three 


ABSENT   TREATMENT.  265 

days  going.  I  had  honestly  tried  my  possibles  to 
perform  the  task  ;  but  having  no  poetical  fancy,  nor 
then  a  capacity  opened  of  expressing  the  same  idea  by 
a  variation  of  phrases,  though  I  was  perfectly  ac- 
quainted with  prosody,  I  found  I  could  do  nothing  ; 
and  therefore  plainly  told  my  master  that  I  had 
diligently  labored  all  I  could  to  perform  what  he 
required,  and  perceiving  I  had  no  genius  for  it,  I 
thought  it  was  in  vain  to  strive  against  nature  any 
longer  ;  and  he  never  more  required  it  of  me.  Nor 
had  I  any  thing  of  a  poetical  genius  till  after  I  had  been 
at  College  some  time,  when  upon  reading  some  of  Mr. 
Cowley's  works,  I  was  highly  pleased,  and  a  new 
scene  opened  before  me. 

ABSENT   TREATMENT    FOR   SCARLET 
FEVER. 

...  In  June,  1693,  in  my  twelfth  year, 
Sir  Francis  Wheeler,  with  his  fleet,  which  had  in 
vain  made  an  attempt  upon  Martinico,  came  to 
Boston,  and  brought  with  him  a  violent  and  malignant 
distemper,  called  the  scarlet  fever,  by  which  he  lost 
many  hundreds  of  his  men.  The  distemper  soon 
spread  in  Boston,  of  which  many  persons  died,  and 
that  within  two  or  three  days  of  their  being  taken  ill. 
It  pleased  God  I  was  seized  with  it,  and  through  the 
rampancy  of  the  fever,  and  a  violent  pain  at  my  heart, 
which  rendered  every  breath  I  drew  to  be  as  though 
a  sword  had  pierced  me,  I  was  so  bad  that  life  was 
despaired  of.  On  the  third  night,  (I  think,)  it  seemed 
to  me  that  a  certain  woman,  wife  of  a  doctor,  who 


266  JOHN    BARNARD. 

used  to  supply  my  father's  family  with  plasters  upon 
occasion,  came  and  brought  me  some  small  dark 
colored  pills,  and  directed  me  to  put  one  in  my 
mouth,  and  hold  it  there  till  it  grew  mellow,  then 
squeeze  it  flat  betwixt  my  thumb  and  finger  and 
apply  it  to  my  right  nipple  ;  it  would  soak  in  and 
before  I  had  used  them  all  so,  I  should  be  well.  I 
followed  the  prescription,  and  when  I  had  used  the  third 
pill,  my  pain  and  fever  left  me,  and  I  was  well.  My 
tender  father,  very  early  the  next  morning,  came  into 
my  bedchamber,  to  inquire  how  it  was  with  me.  I 
told  him  I  was  quite  well,  and  intended  to  get  up  pres- 
ently, and  said  the  pills  Mrs.  (naming  her)  had  given 
me  last  night  had  perfectly  cured  me.  He  said  to  me, 
"  Child,  I  believe  she  was  not  here  ;  I  heard  nothing 
of  it."  To  confirm  him  I  said,*' Sir,  I  have  the  remain- 
ing four  pills  now  in  my  hand,"  and  put  my  hand  out 
of  bed  to  show  them,  but  they  dropped  out  of  my 
hand  into  the  bed.  I  then  raised  myself  up  to  look  for 
them,  but  could  not  find  them.  He  said  to  me,  "  I 
am  afraid,  child,  you  are  out  of  your  senses."  I  said 
to  him,  *'  Sir,  I  am  perfectly  awake,  and  in  my  senses, 
and  find  myself  truly  well."  He  left  the  room  with 
the  supposition  that  I  was  delirious,  and  I  saw  by  his 
countenance  that  he  was  ready  to  give  me  over  for 
lost.  He  then  inquired  of  all  the  house  whether  that 
woman  had  been  at  <he  house  the  day  or  evening 
before.  They  all  let  him  know  that  they  had  not 
seen  her  here.  He  betook  himself  to  his  closet,  and 
in  about  an  hour  came  to  me  again  ;  I  continued  firm 
in  the  story  I  had  told  him.  He  talked  to  me  of  some 
other  things,  and  found  in  my  answers  that  1  was 
thoroughly  awake,    and,    as   he  now   thought,    under 


ABSENT   TREATMENT.  267 

the  power  of  no  distraction,  was  better  satisfied,  and 
left  me  with  a  more  placid  countenance.  By  noon  I 
got  up,  and  was  perfectly  recovered  from  my  sickness. 
I  thought  I  would  have  given  ever  so  much  to  know 
what  the  pills  were,  that  others  might  receive  the 
benefit  of  them.  Finding  that  the  above  said  woman 
had  not  been  at  our  house,  and  I  was  perfectly  healed, 
I  could  not  help  thinking  that  a  merciful  God  had 
sent  an  angel,  as  he  did  Isaiah  to  Hezekiah,  to  heal 
me  ;  and  to  this  very  day,  I  cannot  but  esteem  it 
more  than  an  ordinary  dream,  or  the  wild  ramblings 
of  a  heated  imagination.  It  seemeth  to  me  a  sort  of 
heavenly  vision.  And  what  else  can  you,  sir,  make 
of  it  ?  The  kind  offices  of  the  ministering  spirits  are, 
doubtless,  more  than  we  are  aware  of.  However, 
thus  has  God  mercifully  appeared  for  my  help,  when 
I  was  brought  very  low,  and  in  this  manner  rescued 
me  from  the  jaws  of  death.  Forever  blessed  be  his 
holy  name  !     But  to  return. 


PHILOSOPHIC  MATRIMONY. 

The  1 8th  of  September,  171 8,  I  married  Miss 
Anna  Woodbury,  from  Ipswich,  an  only  child,  whose 
parents  were  both  dead  ;  a  young  gentlewoman  of 
comely  personage,  and  good  fortune,  but  above  all, 
strictly  virtuous,  and  of  admirable  economy  ;  who  is 
yet  living,  though  now  crippled  by  paralytic  or  rheu- 
matic disorders  in  her  right  leg.  It  has  pleased  God 
to  deny  children  to  us  ;  and  we  are  satisfied  with 
the  Divine  allotment,  which  is  always  wisest  and 
best. 


268  JOHN    BARNARD. 


CHOOSING   A    COLLEGE    PRESIDENT. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Holyoke  lived  in  the  strictest 
brotherly  love  and  friendship  with  me  in  our  two 
separate  churches  in  Marblehead,  till  it  pleased  God, 
on  March  23,  in  the  year  1737,  to  remove  by  death 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Benjamin  Wadsworth  from  his  Presi- 
dentship at  the  College,  to  a  higher  sphere  of  action 
and  honors,  among  the  blessed  above  ;  which  neces- 
sitated the  Corporation  and  Overseers  to  look  out  for 
another  proper  person  to  supply  his  place.  Some  of 
the  Overseers  and  Corporation  were  pleased  to  pro- 
pose it  to  me  to  accept  of  the  presidentship,  inform- 
ing me  that  many  of  them  had  their  thoughts 
upon  me.  But  I  gave  them  to  understand  that, 
through  long  disuse,  I  looked  upon  myself  so  much 
unacquainted  with  college  literature,  as  utterly  incapaci- 
tated me  for  that  service,  and  therefore,  I  could  not, 
in  prudence  or  justice,  accept  of  the  offer,  if  it  should 
be  made  to  me  ;  but  I  thought  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Holyoke  the  fittest  person  for  that  station  of  any  I 
knew  in  the  Province.  And  attending  upon  Presi- 
dent Wadsworth' s  funeral,  I  took  the  opportunity,  at 
Cambridge,  to  mention  the  Rev.  Mr.  Holyoke  to 
several  both  of  the  Corporation  and  Overseers  ;  from 
which  time  he  became  a  candidate  for  the  place,  the 
eyes  of  the  people  being  generally  fixed  upon  him. 
Some  of  the  Boston  ministers  were  ready  to  think  that 
the  choice  should  be  made  out  of  themselves,  and  could 
not  well  bear  it  that  there  should  be  any  thought  about 
those  who  lived  in  the  country  ;  and  therefore  made 
some  exception  to  Mr.  Holyoke,  as  that  they  should 
vote  for  him  if  it  were  not  for  his  principles.      In  the 


CHOOSING   A   COLLEGE    PRESIDENT.       269 

midst  of  this  public  talk  I  happened  to  be  invited  to 
Gov.  Belcher's  table.  While  we  were  sitting  together, 
before  dinner,  with  a  Boston  minister  present,  his 
Excellency  was  pleased  to  ask  me  who  I  thought  was 
a  proper  person  for  President.  I  readily  answered, 
ff  In  my  humble  opinion  there  is  no  fitter  person  in 
the  Province  than  the  Rev.  Mr.  Holyoke,  of  Marble- 
head.  ' '  Upon  which  the  minister  present  said  *  *  I  should 
think  so  too  were  it  not"  for  his  principles."  I  confess 
I  was  nettled  and  said  M  Sir,  do  you  know  of  any  bad 
principles  he  holds  ?  "  He  replied  "No  ;  but  he 
should  be  glad  to  know  his  principles."  I  then  said 
to  him,  with  some  smartness,  ?f  Sir,  I  am  surprised 
that  a  gentleman  of  your  character  should  insinuate 
bad  principles  of  a  brother,  when  you  say  you  know 
of  none  ;  especially  since  that  gentleman  has  been 
approved  as  a  valuable  minister  among  us  for  above 
20  years."  His  Excellency  then  asked  me,  what  I 
thought  of  Mr.  Holyoke' s  qualifications.  I  answered 
him,  "  May  it  please  your  Excellency,  I  think  the 
grand  qualifications  for  a  President  are,  a  virtuous, 
religious  man,  a  man  of  learning,  a  gentleman  and 
one  of  good  spirit  for  government  ;  and  all  of  these 
meet  in  Mr.  Holyoke.  He  is  universally  known  to  be 
a  virtuous,  religious  man  ;  and  were  he  but  of  com- 
mon capacity  with  his  brethren,  yet  his  having  lived 
fourteen  years  at  the  College,  and  the  greatest  part  of  that 
time  a  tutor  there,  gives  him  so  much  the  advantage 
above  others,  as  leaves  no  room  to  call  in  question  his 
learning.  That  he  is  a  gentleman  in  his  behavior, 
we  all  know,  and  so  fitted  for  converse  with  all  gentle- 
man-strangers, who  visit  the  College  ;  and  I  know  no 
man  better  qualified  with  a  spirit  for  government,  who 


270  JOHN    BARNARD. 

knows  how  to  treat  his  equals  and  inferiors  with  due 
civility,  while  he  preserves  a  proper  distance." 
"  Well ; "  said  his  Excellency,  f  Mr.  Barnard,  I  agree 
with  you  in  your  qualifications  of  a  President ;  and  if 
a  man  had  all  the  learning  of  Cicero,  and  sanctity  of 
St.  Paul,  but  was  destitute  of  a  spirit  for  government, 
he  would  not  be  fit  for  that  place.  But,"  said  his 
Excellency,  "will  you  vouch,  Mr.  Barnard,  for 
Mr.  Holyoke's  Calvinistical  principles  ?  "  To  which 
I  replied,  "  If  more  than  thirty  years'  intimacy,  and 
more  than  twenty  years'  living  in  the  same  town 
with  him,  and  often  conversing  with  him,  and 
scores  of  times  hearing  him  preach,  can  lead  me 
into  the  knowledge  of  a  man's  principles,  I  think  Mr. 
Holyoke  as  orthodox  a  Calvinist  as  any  man  ;  though 
I  look  upon  him  too  much  of  a  gentleman,  and  of  too 
catholic  a  temper,  to  cram  his  principles  down  another 
man's  throat."  "Then,"  said  his  Excellency,  "I 
believe  he  must  be  the  man." 


CLERICAL   AMENITIES. 

So  long  ago  as  the  year  1727,  I  understood  that 
Mr.  John  Checkley  (who  was  fixed  afterward  in  your1 
parts  and  possibly  known  to  you, )  was  gone  over  to 
England  to  take  orders,  and,  (as  I  was  told  at  Boston,) 
with  an  eye  upon  Marblehead  Church  of  England 
which  was  then  destitute.  I  knew  the  man  to  be  void 
of  a  liberal  education,  though  he  had  got  some  Latin  at 
school,  and  that  he  was  an  indefatigable  enemy  to  the 
churches  of  this  country,  and  a  Non-juror  to  the  British. 

1  i.e.  Dr.  Stiles'  of  New  Haven. 


CLERICAL   AMENITIES.  27  I 

Government  ;  for  which  reasons  I  consulted  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Holyoke,  and  we  agreed  to  write  to  Dr.  Gib- 
son, then  Bishop  of  London,  if  possible  to  prevent  so 
troublesome  a  man  coming  among  us.  Accordingly, 
I  drew  a  letter,  which  Mr.  Holyoke  signed  with  me, 
and  sent  it,  unsealed,  enclosed  in  another,  to  Mr. 
Henry  Newman,  a  very  worthy  gentleman,  whom  I 
knew  in  England,  desiring  him,  if  he  approved  of  it, 
to  seal  it  and  deliver  it  to  his  lordship  ;  but  if  not,  to 
destroy  it.  Mr.  Newman  wrote  me  word  that  he 
not  only  highly  approved  it  himself,  but  his  lordship, 
when  he  had  read  it,  expressed  himself  as  greatly 
pleased  with  it  ;  and  desired  him  to  acquaint  us  that, 
if  he  could  find  time,  he  would  write  us  an  answer 
with  his  own  hand,  (which  he  did  not,)  and  inform 
us  that  he  would  take  special  care  to  appoint  for  the 
church  in  our  town,  a  good  man,  of  catholic  temper, 
and  loyal  to  the  Government  ;  and  it  seemed,  by 
Mr.  Newman's  letter,  as  if  his  lordship  had  his  eye 
upon  Mr.  Price,  who  soon  after  was  sent  to  Boston. 
But  the  Church  of  England  in  Marblehead,  hearing 
of  Mr.  Pigot,  at  Providence,  agreed  with  him,  and 
sent  to  his  lordship  to  appoint  him  for  them.  He 
complied  with  their  request,  and  he  was  fixed  for  a 
time  among  them,  till  he  run  from  them.  The  con- 
sequence of  our  letter  was,  the  Bishop  inquired  of 
our  former  Governor  Shute,  then  in  London,  and 
finding  we  had  wrote  the  honest  truth,  in  our  char- 
acter of  Mr.  Checkley,  refused  to  admit  him  to 
orders  ;  though  afterward  the  Bishop  of  Exeter  (if  I 
mistake  not)  did,  and  sent  him  to  Narraganset.  Thus 
our  town,  and  the  churches  of  this  Province,  through 
the  favor  of  God,  got  rid  of  a  turbulent,    vexatious 


272  JOHN    BARNARD. 

and  persecuting-spirited  Non-juror.  Blessed  be  God 
for  his  kind  dealings  with  us  !  I  have  a  copy  of  the 
letter  by  me. 


PROGRESS    OF    MARBLEHEAD. 

Suffer  me  to  turn  aside,  and  take  a  view  of  the 
very  different  state  of  the  town,  upon  worldly  ac- 
counts, since  I  came  into  it.  When  I  first  came, 
[in  i  7 14]  there  were  two  companies  of  poor,  smoke- 
dried,  rude,  ill-clothed  men,  trained  to  no  military 
discipline  but  that  of  **  whipping  the  snake  "  as  they 
called  it  ;  whereas  now,  [in  1 766]  and  for  years 
past,  we  are  a  distinct  regiment,  consisting  of  seven 
full  companies,  well  clad,  of  bright  countenances, 
vigorous  and  active  men,  so  well  trained  in  the  use 
of  their  arms,  and  the  various  motions  and  marches, 
that  I  have  heard  some  Colonels  of  other  regiments, 
and  a  Brigadier  General  say,  they  never  saw  through- 
out the  country,  not  in  their  own  regiment,  no,  nor 
in  Boston,  so  goodly  an  appearance  of  spirited  men, 
and  so  well  exercised  a  regiment.  When  I  came, 
there  was  not  so  much  as  one  proper  carpenter,  nor 
mason,  nor  tailor,  nor  butcher  in  the  town,  nor  any- 
thing of  a  market  worth  naming;  but  they  had  their 
houses  built  by  country  workmen,  and  their  clothes 
made  out  of  town,  and  supplied  themselves  with  beef 
and  pork  from  Boston,  which  drained  the  town  of  its 
money.  But  now  we  abound  in  artificers,  and  some 
of  the  best,  and  our  markets  large,  even  to  a  full  supply. 
And,  what  above  all  I  would  remark,  there  was  not 
so  much  as  one  foreign  trading  vessel  belonging  to  the 


PROGRESS  OF  MARBLEHEAD.    273 

town,  nor  for  several  years  after  I  came  into  it  ; 
though  no  town  had  really  greater  advantages  in  their 
hands.  The  people  contented  themselves  to  be  the 
slaves  that  digged  in  the  mines,  and  left  the  mer- 
chants of  Boston,  Salem,  and  Europe  to  carry  away 
the  gains  ;  by  which  means  the  town  was  always  in 
dismally  poor  circumstances,  involved  in  debt  to  the 
merchants  more  than  they  were  worth  \  nor  could  I 
find  twenty  families  in  it  that,  upon  the  best  exami- 
nation, could  stand  upon  their  own  legs  ;  and  they 
were  generally  as  rude,  swearing,  drunken,  and  fight- 
ing a  crew,  as  they  were  poor.  Whereas,  not  only 
are  the  public  ways  vastly  mended,  but  the  manners 
of  the  people  greatly  cultivated  ;  and  we  have  many 
gentlemanlike  and  polite  families,  and  the  very  fisher- 
men generally  scorn  the  rudenesses  of  the  former 
generation. 

I  soon  saw  that  the  town  had  a  price  in  its  hands, 
and  it  was  a  pity  they  had  not  a  heart  to  improve  it. 
I  therefore  laid  myself  out  to  get  acquaintance  with  the 
English  masters  of  vessels,  that  I  might  by  them  be 
let  into  the  mastery  of  the  fish  trade,  and  in  a  little 
time  I  gained  a  pretty  thorough  understanding  in  it. 
When  I  saw  the  advantages  of  it,  I  thought  it  my 
duty  to  stir  up  my  people,  such  as  I  thought  would 
hearken  to  me,  and  were  capable  of  practising  upon 
the  advice,  to  send  the  fish  to  market  themselves, 
that  they  might  reap  the  benefit  of  it,  to  the  enrich- 
ing themselves,  and  serving  the  town.  But,  alas  ! 
I  could  inspire  no  man  with  courage  and  resolution 
enough  to  engage  in  it,  till  I  met  with  Mr.  Joseph 
Svvett,  a  young  man  of  strict  justice,  great  industry, 
enterprising    genius,    quick    apprehension,     and    firm 


274  JOHN    BARNARD. 

resolution,  but  of  small  fortune.  To  him  I  opened 
myself  fully,  laid  the  scheme  clearly  before  him,  and 
he  hearkened  unto  me,  and  was  wise  enough  to  put 
it  in  practice.  He  first  sent  a  small  cargo  to  Barba- 
does.  He  soon  found  he  increased  his  stock,  built 
vessels,  and  sent  the  fish  to  Europe,  and  prospered 
in  the  trade,  to  the  enriching  of  himself;  and  some 
of  his  family,  by  carrying  on  the  trade,  have  arrived 
at  large  estates.  The  more  promising  young  men 
of  the  town,  followed  his  example  ;  that  now  we 
have  between  thirty  and  forty  ships,  brigs,  scows, 
and  topsail  schooners  engaged  in  foreign  trade. 
From  so  small  a  beginning  the  town  has  risen  into 
its  present  flourishing  circumstances,  and  we  need  no 
foreigner  to  transport  our  fish,  but  are  able  ourselves 
to  send  it  all  to  the  market.  Let  God  have  the 
praise,  who  has  redeemed  the  town  from  a  state  of 
bondage  into  a  state  of  liberty  and  freedom. 


BENJAMIN  CHURCH. 

Benjamin  Church  was  a  man  of  mixed  fame,  but 
it  is  quite  plain  that  he  was  one  of  the  ablest  char- 
acters of  his  generation.  He  was  born  at  Newport 
in  1734,  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1754  an^  studied 
medicine  in  London,  three  years  later  (1757), 
published  his  poem  The  Choice  in  the  manner  of 
Pomfret,  established  quite  a  literary  reputation,  and 
soon  rose  to  considerable  eminence  as  a  physician  in 
Boston.  He  also  dabbled  in  politics,  and  like  his 
friend,  Samuel  Adams,  contributed  numerous  articles 
to  the  periodicals.  He  took  the  patriotic  side  at 
first,  as  in  his  strong  satire  The  Times  (1765)  ; 
but  though  talented,  was  unscrupulous,  and  he 
offered  secretly  to  sell  his  services  to  the  Tories. 
His  real  character  not  being  known,  he  was  chosen 
to  deliver  the  patriotic  oration  in  the  Old  South 
Meeting  House  on  the  victims  of  the  Boston 
Massacre.  He  was  a  leader  in  the  Boston  Tea 
Party,  and  was  made  Surgeon  General  and  Director 
of  Hospitals  by  the  Provincial  Congress  (1775). 
Soon  afterwards  his  treasonable  correspondence  with 
the  British  was  discovered,  and  he  was  sentenced  to 
imprisonment  for  life  ;  but  falling  sick  in  prison,  he 
was  finally  allowed  to  leave  the  country.  He  em- 
barked in  1776  for  the  West  Indies,  but  the  ship 
in  which  he  sailed  was  never  heard  from.  His  facile 
reputation  soon  declined,  and  his  talents  hardly  to-day 
receive  their  due  praise,  although  this,  forsooth,  is 
not  superlative. 

275 


THE 

CHOICE 

A 

POEM 

After  the  manner  of  Mr.  Promfret 

BY  A   YOUNG   GENTLEMAN.        I 


Boston:  Printed  and  Sold  by  Edes  and  Gill  in  Queen-Street,  1757. 
276 


MODEST   DESIRES.  277 


MODEST   DESIRES. 

If  youthful  Fancy  might  its  Choice  pursue, 
And  act  as  natural  Reason  prompts  it  to  ; 
If  Inclination  could  dispose  our  State, 
And  human  Will  might  govern  future  Fate  ; 
Remote  from  Grandeur,  I'd  be  humbly  wise, 
And  all  the  Glitter  of  a  Court  despise  : 
Unskil'd  the  Proud,  or  Vicious  to  commend, 
To  cringe  to  Insolence,  or  Fools  attend  ; 
Within  myself  contented  and  secure, 
Above  what  mean  Ambition  can  endure  ; 
Nor  yet  so  anxious  to  obtain  a  Name, 
To  bleed  for  Honour  in  the  Fields  of  Fame  ; 
Empty  Parade,  is  all  that  Heroes  know, 
Unless  fair  Virtue  hover  in  the  Show, 

No  needless  Show  my  modest  Dome  should  claim, 
Neat  and  genteel  without,  within  the  same  ;  — 

Thy  mellow  vintage,  Lisbon  !  should  abound, 
Pouring  a  mirthful  Inspiration  'round  ; 
While  laughing  Bacchus  baths  within  the  Bowl, 
Love,  Mirth,  and  Friendship  swallow  up  the  Soul. 

Nor  these  alone,  should  on  my  shelves  recline, 
But  awful  Pope  !  majestically  shine, 
Unequal' d  Bard  !      Who  durst  thy  Praise  engage? 
Not  yet  grown  reverend  with  the  Rust  of  Age  ; 
Sure  Heav'n  alone  thy  Art  unrival'd  taught, 
To  think  so  well,  so  well  express  the  Thought ; 


278  BENJAMIN   CHURCH. 

What  Villain  hears  thee,  but  regrets  the  Smart  ? 
But  tears  the  lurking  Demon  from  his  Heart  ? 
Virtue  attends  thee,  with  the  best  Applause. 
Conscious  Desert  !  great  Victor  in  her  Cause, 
She  faithful  to  thy  Worth  ;  thy  Name  shall  grace, 
Beyond  all  Period,  and  beyond  all  Space  : 
Go,  shine  a  Seraph  and  thy  Notes  prolong 
For  Angels  only  merit  such  a  Song  ! 


FROM   THE   TIMES. 

Pollio,  be  kind  !   nor  chide  an  early  crime, 

Spawn  of  chagrin,  and  labored  waste  of  time  ; 

This  heart  misguides  me  with  a  bent  so  strong, 

It  mocks  restraint,  and  boldly  errs  in  song  : 

Thus  crimes  indulged,  such  vigorous  growth  obtain, 

Your  friendly  caution  frowns  rebuke  in  vain. 

'Tis  not  great  Churchill's  ghost  that  claims  your  ear 

For  even  ghosts  of  wit  are  strangers  here  ; 

The  patriot-soul  to  other  climes  removed, 

Well-pleased  enjoys  that  liberty  he  loved  ; 

No  pang  resents  for  Wilkes  to  exile  driven, 

Exults  that  worth  and  Pratt  are  dear  to  heaven  : 

Young  sure  it  is  not,  from  whose  honeyed  lays 

Streams  a  rank  surfeit  of  redundant  praise  ; 

For  guilt  like  his  what  genius  shall  atone  ? 

Curse  the  foul  verse  that  daubs  a  Stuart's  throne. 


HEIRS   OF   THE    PILGRIM.  279 


TO    THE   HEIRS   OF   THE    PILGRIM. 

[From  the  Same.] 

*A»  >t*  *4f  "Jif  ^^ 

*f»  *T*  »X*  *T*  *T* 

Fair  liberty,  our  soul's  most  darling  prize, 

A  bleeding  victim  flits  before  our  eyes  : 

Was  it  for  this  our  great  forefathers  rode 

O'er  a  vast  ocean  to  this  bleak  abode  ! 

When  liberty  was  into  contest  brought, 

And  loss  of  life  was  but  a  second  thought ; 

By  pious  violence  rejected  thence, 

To  try  the  utmost  stretch  of  providence  ; 

The  deep,  unconscious  of  the  furrowing  keel, 

Essayed  the  tempest  to  rebuke  their  zeal  ; 

The  tawny  natives  and  inclement  sky 

Put  on  their  terrors,  and  command  to  fly  ; 

They  mock  at  danger  ;   what  can  those  appall  ? 

To  whom  fair  liberty  is  all  in  all. 

See  the  new  world  their  purchase,  blest  domain, 

Where  lordly  tyrants  never  forged  the  chain  ; 

The  prize  of  valor,  and  the  gift  of  prayer, 

Hear  this  and  redden,  each  degenerate  heir  ! 

Is  it  for  you  their  honor  to  betray, 

And  give  the  harvest  of  their  blood  away  ? 

Look  back  with  reverence,  awed  to  just  esteem, 

Preserve  the  blessings  handed  down  from  them  ; 

If  not,  look  forward,  look  with  deep  despair, 

And  dread  the  curses  of  your  beggared  heir. 

What  bosom  beats  not,  when  such  themes  excite  ? 

Be  men,  be  gods,  be  stubborn  in  the  right. 


THOMAS    GODFREY    AND 
NATHANIEL  EVANS. 

Thomas  Godfrey  and  Nathaniel  Evans  were  so 
closely  related  in  friendship  and  literary  labors  that  it  is 
natural  to  speak  of  them  together.  Both  were  Phila- 
delphians,  and  both  poets.  The  former,  a  son  of  the 
philosophical  glazier  of  the  same  name  mentioned  in 
Franklin's  Autobiography,  was  born  December  4, 
1736  ;  he  died  in  North  Carolina,  August  3,  1763, 
from  a  fever  contracted  on  a  commercial  voyage.  He 
had  already  spent  three  years  in  the  Southern  colony 
as  a  purchasing  agent,  and  while  there  had  written  a 
poetical  tragedy,  The  Pri?ice  of  Partbia,  the  first 
important  dramatic  undertaking  made  in  the  Colonies. 
He  wrote  also,  and  published,  in  the  year  of  his 
death,  The  Court  of  Fancy,  a  poem,  suggested  by 
Chaucer's  House  of  Fame,  and  bearing  other  marks 
of  imitativeness,  yet  on  the  whole  giving  evidence  of 
distinct  poetic  powers.  His  poems  were  issued  with 
a  sketch  by  his  friend  Evans  in  1767.  The  latter 
also,  who  was  born  June  8,  1742,  was  a  poet  by 
nature,  and  had  been  first  a  merchant,  then  a  student 
in  the  College  of  Philadelphia,  and  after  ordination  in 
England  in  1775,  a  missionary  in  New  Jersey  for  the 
Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel.  He  died  Octo- 
ber 29,  1767,  his  poems  appearing  five  years  later 
with  a  Memoir  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Smith.  Like  those  of 
Godfrey,  the  verses  of  Evans  are  distinctly  immature. 
280 


THE   WISH.  28l 

They  have  probably  less  power  than  those  of  the 
elder  victim  of  adverse  fate,  but  they  have  in 
compensation  more  charm.  Godfrey's  Court  of 
Fancy  and  Evans's  Ode  on  the  Prospect  of 
Peace,  Ij6i,  are  too  long  for  our  pages,  and  are 
not  to  be  mutilated  without  loss,  but  the  second  of 
the  selections  from  Evans  will  probably  leave  the 
reader  with  a  pleasant  feeling  for  both  amiable  devotees 
of  the  Muse. 

THE    WISH. 

(GODFREY.) 

I  only  ask  a  moderate  fate, 
And,  though  not  in  obscurity, 
I  would  not,  yet,  be  placed  too  high  ; 
Between  the  two  extremes  I'd  be, 
Not  meanly  low,  nor  yet  too  great, 
From  both  contempt  and  envy  free. 

If  no  glittering  wealth  I  have, 
Content  of  bounteous  heaven  I  crave, 
For  that  is  more 

Than  all  the  Indian's  shining  store, 
To  be  unto  the  dust  a  slave. 
With  heart,  my  little  I  will  use, 
Nor  let  pain  my  life  devour, 
Or  for  a  griping  heir  refuse 
Myself  one  pleasant  hour. 

No  stately  edifice  to  rear  ; 
My  wish  would  bound  a  small  retreat, 
In  temperate  air,  and  furnished  neat : 
No  ornaments  would  I  prepare, 


282  THOMAS   GODFREY. 

No  costly  labors  of  the  loom 
Should  e'er  adorn  my  humble  room  ; 
To  gild  my  roof  I  naught  require 
But  the  stern  Winter's  friendly  fire. 

Free  from  tumultuous  cares  and  noise, 
If  gracious  Heaven  my  wish  would  give, 
While  sweet  content  augments  my  joys, 
Thus  my  remaining  hours  I'd  live. 
By  arts  ignoble  never  rise, 
The  miser's  ill-got  wealth  despise  ; 
But  blest  my  leisure  hours  I'd  spend, 
The  Muse  enjoying,  and  my  friend. 

AMYNTOR. 

(GODFREY.) 

Long  had  Amyntor  free  from  love  remained  ; 
The  God,  enraged  to  see  his  power  disdained, 
Bent  his  best  bow,  and,  aiming  at  his  breast 
The  fatal  shaft,  he  thus  the  swain  addrest : 

"  Hear  me,  hear  me,  senseless  rover,  — 
Soon  thou  now  shalt  be  a  lover, 

Cupid  will  his  power  maintain  ; 
Haughty  Delia  shall  enslave  thee, 
Thou,  who  thus  insulting  brav'st  me, 

Shall,  unpitied,  drag  the  chain." 

He  ceased,  and  quick  he  shot  the  pointed  dart  ; 
Far  short  it  fell,  nor  reached  Amyntor' s  heart  ; 
The  angry  God  was  filled  with  vast  surprise  ; 
Abashed  he  stood,  while  thus  the  swain  replies 


TO    MAY.  283 

"Think  not,  Cupid,  vain  deceiver, 
I  will  own  thy  power  ever, 

Guarded  from  thy  arts  by  wine  ; 
Haughty  Beauty  ne'er  shall  grieve  me, 
Bacchus  still  shall  e'er  relieve  me, 

All  his  rosy  joys  are  mine  ; 

All  his  rosy  joys  are  mine. 


>> 


TO    MAY. 

(evans.) 

[Poems  on  Several  OccAsroNs.      1772.] 

Now  had  the  beam  of  Titan  gay 
Ushered  in  the  blissful  May, 
Scattering  from  his  pearly  bed, 
Fresh  dew  on  every  mountain's  head  ; 
Nature  mild  and  debonair, 
To  thee,  fair  maid,  yields  up  her  care. 
May,  with  gentle  plastic  hand, 
Clothes  in  flowery  robe  the  land  ; 
O'er  the  vales  the  cowslip  spreads, 
And  eglantine  beneath  the  shades  ; 
Violets  blue  befringe  each  fountain, 
Woodbines  lace  each  steepy  mountain  ; 
Hyacinths  ffieir  sweets  diffuse, 
And  the  rose  its  blush  renews  ; 
With  the  rest  of  Flora's  train, 
Decking  lowly  dale  or  plain. 

Through  creation's  range,  sweet  May  ! 
Nature's  children  own  thy  sway  — 
Whether  in  the  crystal  flood, 
Amorous,  sport  the  finny  brood  ; 


284  NATHANIEL   EVANS. 

Or  the  feathered  tribes  declare 

That  they  breathe  thy  genial  air, 

While  they  warble  in  each  grove 

Sweetest  notes  of  artless  love  ; 

Or  their  wound  the  beasts  proclaim, 

Smitten  with  a  fiercer  flame  ; 

Or  the  passions  higher  rise, 

Sparing  none  beneath  the  skies, 

But  swaying  soft  the  human  mind 

With  feelings  of  ecstatic  kind  — 

Through  wide  creation's  range,  sweet  May  ! 

All  nature's  children  own  thy  sway. 

Oft  will  I,  (e'er  Phosphor's  light 
Quits  the  glimmering  skirts  of  night) 
Meet  thee  in  the  clover  field, 
Where  thy  beauties  thou  shalt  yield 
To  my  fancy,  quick  and  warm, 
Listening  to  the  dawn's  alarm, 
Sounded  loud  by  Chanticleer, 
In  peals  that  sharply  pierce  the  ear. 
And,  as  Sol  his  flaming  car 
Urges  up  the  vaulted  air, 
Shunning  quick  the  scorching  ray, 
I  will  to  some  covert  stray,      _ 
Coolly  bowers  or  latent  dells, 
Where  light-footed  Silence  dwells, 
And  whispers  to  my  heaven-born  dream, 
Fair  Schuylkill,  by  thy  winding  stream  ! 
There  I'll  devote  full  many  an  hour, 
To  the  still-fingered  Morphean  power, 
And  entertain  my  thirsty  soul 
With  draughts  from  Fancy's  fairy  bowl  ; 


ODE   TO   THOMAS   GODFREY.         285 

Or  mount  her  orb  of  varied  hue, 

And  scenes  of  heaven  and  earth  review. 

Nor  in  milder  eve's  decline, 
As  the  sun  forgets  to  shine, 
And  sloping  down  the  ethereal  plain, 
Plunges  in  the  western  main, 
Will  I  forbear  due  strain  to  pay 
To  the  song-inspiring  May  ; 
But  as  Hesper  'gins  to  move 
Round  the  radiant  court  of  Jove, 
(Leading  through  the  azure  sky 
All  the  starry  progeny, 
Emitting  prone  their  silver  light, 
To  re-illume  the  shades  of  night) 
Then,  the  dewy  lawn  along, 
I'll  carol  forth  my  grateful  song, 
Viewing  with  transported  eye 
The  blazing  orbs  that  roll  on  high, 
Beaming  lustre,  bright  and  clear, 
O'er  the  glowing  hemisphere. 
Thus  from  the  early  blushing  morn, 
Till  the  dappled  eve's  return, 
Will  I,  in  free  unlabored  lay, 
Sweetly  sing  the  charming  May  ! 


ODE   TO    MY    INGENIOUS    FRIEND,  MR. 
THOMAS    GODFREY. 

While  you,  dear  Tom,  are  forced  to  roam, 
In  search  of  fortune,  far  from  home, 
O'er  bays,  o'er  seas  and  mountains  ; 


286  NATHANIEL    EVANS. 

I  too,  debarred  the  soft  retreat 
Of  shady  groves,  and  murmur  sweet 
Of  silver  prattling  fountains, 

Must  mingle  with  the  bustling  throng, 
And  bear  my  load  of  cares  along, 

Like  any  other  sinner  : 
For,  where' s  the  ecstasy  in  this, 
To  loiter  in  poetic  bliss, 

And  go  without  a  dinner  ? 

Flaccus,  we  know,  immortal  Bard  ! 
With  mighty  kings  and  statesmen  fared, 

And  lived  in  cheerful  plenty  : 
But  now,  in  these  degenerate  days, 
The  slight  reward  of  empty  praise, 

Scarce  one  receives  in  twenty. 

Well  might  the  Roman  swan,  along 
The  pleasing  Tiber  pour  his  song, 

When  blessed  with  ease  and  quiet ; 
Oft  did  he  grace  Maecenas'  board, 
Who  would  for  him  throw  by  the  lord, 

And  in  Falernian  riot. 


But  dearest  Tom  !   these  days  are  past, 
And  we  are  in  a  climate  cast 

Where  few  the  muse  can  relish  ; 
Where  all  the  doctrine  now  that's  '  "M, 
Is  that  a  shining  heap  of  gold 

Alone  can  man  embellish. 


ODE   TO   THOMAS   GODFREY.         287 

Then  since  'tis  thus,  my  honest  friend, 
If  you  be  wise,  my  strain  attend, 

And  counsel  sage  adhere  to  ; 
With  me,  henceforward,  join  the  crowd, 
And  like  the  rest  proclaim  aloud, 

That  money  is  all  virtue  ! 

Then  may  we  both,  in  time,  retreat 
To  some  fair  villa,  sweetly  neat, 

'  To  entertain  the  muses  ; 
And  then  life's  noise  and  trouble  leave  — 
Supremely  blest,  we'll  never  grieve 
At  what  the  world  refuses. 


JONATHAN   BOUCHER. 

Jonathan  Boucher  was  one  of  the  most  promi- 
nent Loyalists  during  the  Revolutionary  Period,  and  is 
included  among  colonial  writers  only  on  account  of  his 
interesting  sermon  preached  on  the  conclusion  of 
peace  in  1763.  He  was  born  in  England  in  1738, 
and  emigrated  when  quite  a  young  man  to  Virginia, 
where  he  became  tutor  in  a  planter's  family.  A 
neighboring  parish  having  become  vacant,  he  was 
urged  to  take  orders  and  fill  it.  He  consented,  was 
ordained  by  the  Bishop  of  London  in  1762,  and  for 
thirteen  years  did  admirable  work  in  Virginia  and 
Maryland,  not  confining  his  energies  to  his  parishes, 
however,  but  running  a  plantation,  keeping  a  large 
boarding  school,  and  taking  a  keen  interest  in  poli- 
tics and  literature.  His  wide  attainments  are  shown 
in  his  sermons,  which  are  admirably  written  and 
always  interesting  ;  but  his  political  and  ecclesiastical 
views  were  what  most  men  call  narrow.  He  was 
an  advocate  of  passive  obedience,  and  preached  so 
strenuously  against  the  Revolution  that  he  was  forced 
to  take  refuge  in  England  in  1775.  There  he  re- 
sided as  Vicar  of  Epsom  until  his  death,  April  27, 
1804.  Five  years  before  his  death  he  published 
A  View  of  the  Causes  and  Consequences  of  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution,  which  consisted  of  thirteen  of  his 
sermons  preached  in  Virginia  and  Maryland  during 
the  exciting  years  of  his  ministry.  These  sermons 
288 


BRITISH   TREATMENT   OF    INDIANS.     289 

were  accompanied  with  elaborate  and  interesting 
footnotes,  one  of  which  is  given  in  our  selections,  and 
a  long  preface.  The  book  was  dedicated  to  Wash- 
ington, whom  Boucher  could  not  help  admiring  as  a 
man  and  still  loving  as  a  friend,  however  heartily  he 
detested  his  political  views  and  actions.  We  may 
take  much  the  same  attitude  toward  Boucher  himself. 
However  heartily  we  may  disagree  with  his  most 
cherished  convictions,  we  must  acknowledge  him  to 
have  been  a  man  of  great  sincerity  and  nobility  of 
character,  of  unusual  learning,  and  of  a  literary  power 
and  charm  which  seem  to  have  descended  to  his 
well-known  grandson,  the  late  Mr.  Locker-Lampson. 
It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  Thackeray  is  said  to 
have  prepared  himself  in  part  for  writing  The  Vir- 
ginians, by  reading  the  letters  that  passed  between 
Washington  and  Boucher.  A  good  discussion  of 
Boucher  will  be  found  in  the  first  volume  of  Professor 
Moses  Coit  Tyler's  Literary  History  of  the  American 
Revolution,  where  a  useful  bibliography  is  given. 


BRITISH  TREATMENT  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

[From  a  Sermon  "On  the  Peace  in  1763" 
given  in  "A  View  of  the  Causes  and  Con- 
sequences of  the  American  Revolution." 
London,   1797.] 

If  we  may  judge  from  anything  that  has  yet  been 
attempted  concerning  them,  [the  Indians]  they  have 
been  looked  upon  as  untamed,  and  untameable  mon- 
sters ;   whom,  like  the  devoted  nations  around  Judea, 


290  JONATHAN    BOUCHER. 

it  was  a  kind  of  religion  with  white  men  to  exter- 
minate. We  have  treated  them  with  a  rigor  and 
severity  equally  unsuitable  to  the  genius  of  our  govern- 
ment, and  the  mild  spirit  of  our  religion.  I  hope, 
indeed,  Britons  have  never  yet  so  disgraced  their 
national  character  as  to  have  shown  towards  them 
so  much  internecine  fury  as  the  Spaniards  at  first 
showed  towards  the  Aborigines  of  the  Southern 
Continent.  Yet,  could  the  poor  Indian  be  but  his 
own  historian  ;  and,  from  his  own  experience,  and 
his  own  feelings,  relate  all  that  has  happened  since 
our  arrival  in  America,  it  would  appear  (if  I  am  not 
much  mistaken)  that  he  has  not  derived  so  much 
benefit,  as  we  are  apt  to  flatter  ourselves,  from  being 
subjected  to  Britons,  rather  than  to  Spaniards. 

I  own  to  you,  I  have  not  seldom  blushed  at  their 
accounts  of  the  treatment  they  have  experienced  from 
white  men  :  but,  I  trust,  the  period  is  not  far  distant, 
when,  for  our  own  sakes,  as  well  as  for  theirs,  we 
shall  endeavor  to  diffuse  political  security  and  happi- 
ness to  the  Indian  nations  with  whom  we  have  any 
intercourse  ;  and  to  convert  them  into  free  men, 
useful  subjects,  and  good  Christians. 


"SAVAGE    HEROISM   AND    CIVILIZED 
BARBARITY." 

[From  a  Footnote  to  the  Above  Passage.] 

I  hope  to  be  pardoned  for  recording  here  an  in- 
stance or  two  (from  many  which  occur  to  me)  of 
savage  heroism  and  civilized  barbarity.      They  were 


"HEROISM    AND    BARBARITY.''       29 1 

related  to  me  on  good  authority  ;  and,  I  believe, 
have  never  yet  appeared  in  print. — "A  gentleman 
in  Maryland,  well  known  for  being  the  terror  of 
Indians,  having  rambled  into  the  woods  with  his  son 
(then  very  young)  espied  an  old  Indian  coming  to 
his  store  (i.e.  warehouse)  to  trade,  as  was  usual  in 
times  of  peace.  The  father,  concealing  himself  and 
his  boy  behind  a  fallen  tree,  lay  there,  till  the  Indian, 
as  far  from  suspecting  any  danger  as  he  was  from 
intending  any  mischief,  got  within  reach  of  his 
gun.  The  boy  was  then  directed  to  fire.  He  did 
so  ;  and  killed  his  man  :  for  no  reason  whatever 
but  that  he  might  be  able  to  say  he  had  killed  his 
man."  The  person  from  whom  I  had  this  story, 
assured  me  it  was  related  to  him  by  one  of  the  family 
as  a  meritorious  fact. 

"  A  party  of  white  people  from  one  of  the 
frontier  settlements  of  Virginia,  once  went  out  against 
a  body  of  Indians,  who  were  in  arms  to  oppose  a 
small  colony  of  settlers,  who  had  taken  possession  of 
some  lands,  which  the  Indians  alleged  they  had  never 
sold.  Indians  remonstrate  with  their  tomahawks  ; 
and  therefore  now  declared  war  by  driving  off  those 
whom  they  adjudged  to  be  encroachers.  The  whites 
were  not  of  a  temper  to  be  intimidated  :  they  re- 
solved, and  were  soon  prepared,  to  attack  the 
Indians  in  their  turns  ;  who,  being  fallen  upon  when 
they  were  off  their  guard,  and  finding  themselves 
likely  to  be  overpowered,  fairly  took  to  their  heels. 
Among  them  was  a  young  squaw,  with  an  infant  in 
her  arms.  She  was  supposed  to  belong  to  a  person 
of  some  note,  from  her  dress  being  composed  almost 
entirely  of  silk  handkerchiefs.      Checked  in  her  speed 


292  JONATHAN   BOUCHER. 

by  the  burthen  of  her  helpless  charge,  she  hoped  to 
escape  by  hiding  herself  and  her  child  among  the 
weeds  of  a  marsh.  The  thought  showed  she  pos- 
sessed great  presence  of  mind  ;  but,  alas  !  it  was  of 
no  avail.  The  chieftain  of  the  whites  (whose  name 
I  forbear  to  mention)  espied  her,  and  took  his  aim. 
This  she  saw  ;  and  being  sensible  also  that  she  must 
fall,  (for,  when  riflemen  have  a  fair  shot,  they  are 
rarely  known  to  miss  their  object,)  her  last  and  only 
care  was,  if  possible,  to  preserve  her  babe.  With 
this  hope,  she  instantly  turned  it  from  her  back  to 
her  breast  ;  that  she  alone  might  receive  the  ball. 
And  even  when  she  fell,  by  a  kind  instinct  of 
nature  (of  the  true  force  of  which  in  such  a  case 
mothers  only  are,  perhaps,  the  proper  judges),  she 
was  anxious  and  careful  so  to  fall  as  that  her  child 
might  not  be  hurt."  I  am  shocked  to  relate  that  both 
the  mother  and  her  babe  were  killed  and  scalped. 

A    SLAVE-HOLDER    ON   SLAVERY. 

[From  the  Same.      Footnotes  are   in   the  Main 
Omitted.] 

But  Indians  are  by  no  means  the  sole  or  chief  ob- 
jects of  our  present  attention  :  the  united  motives  of 
interest  and  humanity  call  on  us  to  bestow  some  con- 
sideration on  the  case  of  those  sad  outcasts  of  society, 
our  negro  slaves  :  for  my  heart  would  smite  me,  were 
I  not,  in  this  hour  of  prosperity,  to  entreat  you  (it 
being  their  unparalleled  hard  lot  not  to  have  the 
power  of  entreating  for  themselves)  to  permit  them 
to  participate  in  the  general  joy. 


A   SLAVE-HOLDER   ON    SLAVERY.       293 

Even  those  who  are  the  sufferers  can  hardly  be 
sorry  when  they  see  wrong  measures  carrying  their 
punishment  along  with  them.  Were  an  impartial 
and  competent  observer  of  the  state  of  society  in  these 
middle  colonies  asked  whence  it  happens  that  Vir- 
ginia and  Maryland  (which  were  the  first  planted, 
and  which  are  superior  to  many  colonies,  and  inferior 
to  none,  in  point  of  natural  advantage)  are  still  so 
exceedingly  behind  most  of  the  other  British  trans- 
Atlantic  possessions  in  all  those  improvements  which 
bring  credit  and  consequence  to  a  country  ?  —  he 
would  answer  —  They  are  so,  because  they  are  culti- 
vated by  slaves.  I  believe  it  is  capable  of  demon- 
stration that,  except  the  immediate  interest  which 
every  man  has  in  the  property  of  his  slaves,  it  would 
be  for  every  man's  interest  that  there  were  no  slaves: 
and  for  this  plain  reason,  because  the  free  labor  of  a 
free  man,  who  is  regularly  hired  and  paid  for  the 
work  which  he  does,  and  only  for  what  he  does,  is, 
in  the  end,  cheaper  than  the  extorted  eye-service  of  a 
slave.  Some  loss  and  inconvenience  would,  no 
doubt,  arise  from  the  general  abolition  of  slavery  in 
these  colonies  :  but,  were  it  done  gradually,  with 
judgment,  and  with  good  temper,  I  have  never  yet 
seen  it  satisfactorily  proved  that  such  inconvenience 
would  either  be  great  or  lasting.  North  American 
or  West  Indian  planters  might,  possibly,  for  a  few 
years,  make  less  tobacco,  or  less  rice,  or  less  sugar  ; 
the  raising  of  which  might  also  cost  them  more  ;  but 
that  disadvantage  would  probably  soon  be  amply 
compensated  to  them,  by  an  advanced  price,  or 
(what  is  the  same  thing)  by  the  reduced  expense 
of  cultivation. 


294  JONATHAN   BOUCHER. 

With  all  my  abhorrence  of  slavery,  I  feel  in  my- 
self no  disposition  to  question  either  its  lawfulness  or 
its  humanity.  Its  lawfulness  has  again  and  again 
been  clearly  proved :  and  if  it  is  sometimes  cruel,  it  is 
so  only  from  being  abused.  But,  if  I  am  not  much 
mistaken,  more  harm  than  good  has  been  done  by 
some  late  publications  on  the  subject  of  slavery  [In 
the  Virginia  newspapers,  by  Mr.  Arthur  Lee] ,  a 
subject  which,  of  all  others,  seems  to  be  the  least 
proper  for  a  mere  rhetorician.  Thus  much,  how- 
ever, I  may  be  permitted  to  observe,  that,  in  no 
other  country  was  slavery  so  well  regulated  as  it  is  in 
the  British  colonies.  In  some  respects  I  hope  it  is 
on  a  better  footing  than  it  ever  was,  or  is,  anywhere 
else  :  but  it  is  surely  worse  in  this,  that  here,  in  one 
sense,  it  never  can  end.  An  African  slave,  even 
when  made  free,  supposing  him  to  be  possessed  even 
of  talents  and  virtue,  can  never,  in  these  colonies,  be 
quite  on  terms  of  equality  with  a  free  white  man. 
Nature  has  placed  insuperable  barriers  in  his  way. 
This  is  a  circumstance  of  great  moment  ;  though,  I 
think,  it  has  not  often  been  adverted  to  by  popular 
writers. 

If  ever  these  colonies  now  filled  with  slaves,  be 
improved  to  their  utmost  capacity,  an  essential  part 
of  the  improvement  must  be  the  abolition  of  slavery. 
Such  a  change  would  hardly  be  more  to  the  advantage 
of  the  slaves,  than  it  would  be  to  their  owners.  An 
ingenious  French  writer  [Montesquieu,  Spirit  of  Laws, 
book  xv.  chap,  i]  well  observes,  that  "the  state 
of  slavery  is,  In  its  own  nature,  bad  :  it  is  neither 
useful  to  the  master,  nor  to  the  slave.  Not  to  the 
slave,  because  he  can  do  nothing  through  a  motive  of 


A   SLAVE-HOLDER   ON    SLAVERY.       295 

virtue  ;  not  to  the  master,  because,  by  having  an 
unlimited  authority  over  his  slaves,  he  insensibly  accus- 
toms himself  to  the  want  of  all  moral  virtues,  and 
from  thence  grows  fierce,  hasty,  severe,  voluptuous, 
and  cruel." 

I  do  you  no  more  than  justice  in  bearing  witness, 
that  in  no  part  of  the  world  were  slaves  ever  better 
treated  than,  in  general,  they  are  in  these  colonies. 
That  there  are  exceptions,  needs  not  be  concealed  : 
in  all  countries  there  are  bad  men.  And  shame  be  to 
those  men  who,  though  themselves  blessed  with  free- 
dom, have  minds  less  liberal  than  the  poor  creatures 
over  whom  they  so  meanly  tyrannize  !  Even  your 
humanity,  however,  falls  short  of  their  exigences. 
In  one  essential  point,  I  fear,  we  are  all  deficient  : 
they  are  nowhere  sufficiently  instructed.  I  am  far 
from  recommending  it  to  you,  at  once  to  set  them  all 
free  ;  because  to  do  so  would  be  an  heavy  loss  to 
you,  and  probably  no  gain  to  them  :  but  I  do  entreat 
you  to  make  them  some  amends  for  the  drudgery  of 
their  bodies  by  cultivating  their  minds.  By  such 
means  only  can  we  hope  to  fulfil  the  ends,  which,  we 
may  be  permitted  to  believe,  Providence  had  in  view 
in  suffering  them  to  be  brought  among  us.  You  may 
unfetter  them  from  the  chaifis  of  ignorance  ;  you  may 
emancipate  them  from  the  bondage  of  sin,  the  worst 
slavery  to  which  they  can  be  subjected  :  and  by  thus 
setting  at  liberty  those  that  are  bruised,  though  they 
still  continue  to  be  your  slaves,  they  shall  be  deliv- 
ered from  the  bondage  of  corruption  into  the  glorious 
liberty  of  the  children  of  God. 


JOHN   WOOLMAN. 

John  Woolman,  the  great  Quaker  preacher  and 
social  reformer,  was  born  at  Northampton,  Burlington 
County,  New  Jersey,  in  1720,  and  died  of  smallpox 
while  on  a  visit  to  the  English  Friends,  at  York, 
October  7,  1772.  His  early  years  were  passed  on 
a  farm  and  as  clerk  in  a  store,  but  he  showed  interest 
in  mission  work  by  teaching  poor  children,  and  about 
1 741,  after  some  experience  in  preaching  at  Friends' 
Meetings,  he  felt  a  call  to  visit  various  bodies  of  his 
sect  throughout  the  colonies.  To  further  this  design 
he  learned  the  trade  of  tailor,  which  he  practiced  on 
his  itinerant  journeys.  These  began  in  1746  by  a 
visit  to  Virginia,  from  which  time  his  abhorrence  of 
slavery  became  rooted,  and  the  rest  of  his  life  was 
passed  in  such  missions  which  covered  much  of  the 
Atlantic  region  and  included  a  visit  to  the  Indians  of 
the  Susquehanna  in  1763.  His  journal  of  his  mis- 
sionary travels,  first  published  in  1775,  was  reedited 
by  the  poet  Whittier  in  187 1.  He  wrote  also  Some 
Considerations  on  the  Keeping  of  Negroes  (1753— 
1762),  and  several  other  works  of  religious  or  ethical 
purport.  No  more  sincere  revelation  of  the  workings 
of  a  pure  and  benevolent  spirit  than  is  contained  in 
his  Journal  can  easily  be  found  in  literature.  Its 
style  is  simple  and  has  been  highlv  praised,  especially 
by  Charles  Lamb.  The  defects  of  the  book  are  those 
296 


DOMESTIC   EVENTS.  297 

of  the  man,  such  as  over-scrupulousness  of  conscience, 
not  to  say  morbidity,  and  lack  of  intellectual  breadth 
as  well  as  of  aesthetic  sensibility  ;  but  these  are  plainly 
the  defects  of  his  qualities,  and  in  the  presence  of  his 
altruistic  piety,  criticism  seems  impertinent. 


DOMESTIC   EVENTS  AND    SCRUPLES   OF 
CONSCIENCE. 

[From  the   "Journal,"    1772,    Chap.    III.] 

About  this  time,  believing  it  good  for  me  to  settle, 
and  thinking  seriously  about  a  companion,  my  heart 
was  turned  to  the  Lord,  with  desire  that  he  would 
give  me  wisdom  to  proceed  therein  agreeably  to  his 
will  ;  and  he  was  pleased  to  give  me  a  well-inclined 
damsel,  Sarah  Ellis  ;  to  whom  I  was  married  the  1 8th 
day  of  the  eighth  month,  in  the  year  1749. 

In  the  fall  of  the  year  1750,  died  my  father, 
Samuel  Woolman,  with  a  fever,  aged  about  sixty 
years. 

In  his  lifetime  he  manifested  much  care  for  us  his 
children,  that  in  our  youth  we  might  learn  to  fear  the 
Lord  ;  often  endeavoring  to  imprint  in  our  minds  the 
true  principles  of  virtue,  and  particularly  to  cherish  in 
us  a  spirit  of  tenderness,  not  only  towards  poor  peo- 
ple, but  also  towards  all  creatures  of  which  we  had 
the  command. 

After  my  return  from  Carolina,  in  the  year  1746, 
I  made  some  observations  on  keeping  slaves,  which 
some  time  before  his  decease  I  showed  him.  He 
perused  the  manuscript,  proposed  a  few  alterations, 


298  JOHN    WOOLMAN. 

and  appeared  well  satisfied  that  I  found  a  concern  on 
that  account.  In  his  last  sickness,  as  I  was  watching 
with  him  one  night,  he  being  so  far  spent  that  there 
was  no  expectation  of  his  recovery,  but  had  the  per- 
fect use  of  his  understanding,  he  asked  me  concern- 
ing the  manuscript,  whether  I  expected  soon  to 
proceed  to  take  the  advice  of  Friends  in  publishing 
it  ;  and,  after  some  conversation  thereon,  said,  I  have 
all  along  been  deeply  affected  with  the  oppression  of 
the  poor  negroes  ;  and  now,  at  last,  my  concern  for 
them  is  as  great  as  ever. 

By  his  direction,  I  had  written  his  will  in  a  time 
of  health,  and  that  night  he  desired  me  to  read  it  to 
him,  which  I  did,  and  he  said  it  was  agreeable  to  his 
mind.  He  then  made  mention  of  his  end,  which  he 
believed  was  now  near,  and  signified  that,  though  he 
was  sensible  of  many  imperfections  in  the  course  of 
his  life,  yet  his  experience  of  the  power  of  truth,  and 
of  the  love  and  goodness  of  God  from  time  to  time, 
even  until  now,  was  such  that  he  had  no  doubt  but 
that,  in  leaving  this  life,  he  should  enter  into  one 
more  happy. 

The  next  day  his  sister  Elizabeth  came  to  see  him, 
and  told  him  of  the  decease  of  their  sister  Ann,  who 
died  a  few  days  before.  He  said,  I  reckon  sister 
Ann  was  free  to  leave  this  world?  Elizabeth  said 
she  was.  He  then  said,  I  also  am  free  to  leave  it ; 
and  being  in  great  weakness  of  body,  said,  I  hope  I 
shall  shortly  go  to  rest.  He  continued  in  a  weighty 
frame  of  mind,  and  was  sensible  until  near  the  last. 

On  the  second  day  of  the  ninth  month,  in  the  year 
1 75  1,  feeling  drawings  in  my  mind  to  visit  friends  at 
the  Great  Meadows,  in  the  upper  part  of  West  Jersey, 


DOMESTIC   EVENTS.  299 

with  the  unity  of  our  monthly  meeting,  I  went  there, 
and  had  some  searching,  laborious  exercise  amongst 
friends  in  those  parts,  and  found  inward  peace  therein. 

In  the  ninth  month  of  the  year  1753,  in  company 
with  my  well-esteemed  friend  John  Sykes,  and  with 
the  unity  of  Friends,  I  travelled  about  two  weeks, 
visiting  Friends  in  Buck  County.  We  labored  in 
the  love  of  the  gospel,  according  to  the  measure 
received  ;  and,  through  the  mercies  of  him  who  is 
strength  to  the  poor  who  trust  in  him,  we  found 
satisfaction  in  our  visit.  In  the  next  winter,  way 
opening  to  visit  Friends'  families  within  the  compass 
of  our  monthly  meeting,  partly  by  the  labors  of  two 
Friends  from  Pennsylvania,  I  joined  in  some  part  of 
the  work  ;  having  had  a  desire  for  some  time  that  it 
might  go  forward  amongst  us. 

About  this  time,  a  person  at  some  distance  lying 
sick,  his  brother  came  to  me  to  write  his  will.  I 
knew  he  had  slaves  ;  and  asking  his  brother,  was  told 
he  intended  to  leave  them  as  slaves  to  his  children. 
As  writing  is  a  profitable  employ,  and  as  offending 
sober  people  was  disagreeable  to  my  inclination,  I 
was  straitened  in  my  mind  ;  but  as  I  looked  to  the 
Lord,  he  inclined  my  heart  to  his  testimony.  I  told 
the  man  that  I  believed  the  practice  of  continuing 
slavery  to  this  people  was  not  right,  and  had  a  scruple 
in  my  mind  against  doing  writings  of  that  kind ;  that, 
though  many  in  our  Society  kept  them  as  slaves,  still 
I  was  not  easy  to  be  concerned  in  it,  and  desired  to 
be  excused  from  going  to  write  the  will.  I  spake  to 
him  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord ;  and  he  made  no  reply 
to  what  I  said,  but  went  away  :  he  also  had  some 
concern  in  the  practice,  and   I   thought  he  was  dis- 


300  JOHN    WOOLMAN. 

pleased  with  me.  In  this  case,  I  had  a  fresh  con- 
firmation that  acting  contrary  to  present  outward 
interests,  from  a  motive  of  divine  love,  and  in  regard 
to  truth  and  righteousness,  and  thereby  incurring  the 
resentments  of  people,  opens  the  way  to  a  treasure 
better  than  silver,  and  to  a  friendship*  exceeding  the 
friendship  of  men. 

The  manuscript  before  mentioned  having  laid  by 
me  several  years,  the  publication  of  it  rested  weightily 
upon  me ;  and  this  year  I  offered  it  to  the  revisal  of 
Friends,  who,  having  examined  and  made  some  small 
alterations  in  it,  directed  a  number  of  copies  thereof 
to  be  published  and  dispersed  amongst  Friends. 

CONVERSATIONS    AND    THOUGHTS    ON 
SLAVERY. 

[From  the  Same,  Chap.  IV.] 

Feeling  the  exercise  in  relation  to  a  visit  to  the 
Southern  Provinces  to  increase  upon  me,  I  acquainted 
our  Monthly  Meeting  therewith,  and  obtained  their 
certificate.  Expecting  to  go  alone,  one  of  my  brothers 
who  lived  in  Philadelphia,  having  some  business  in 
North  Carolina,  proposed  going  with  me  part  of  the 
way  ;  but  as  he  had  a  view  of  some  outward  affairs, 
to  accept  of  him  as  a  companion  was  some  difficulty 
with  me,  whereupon  I  had  conversation  with  him  at 
sundry  times.  At  length  feeling  easy  in  my  mind,  I 
had  conversation  with  several  elderly  Friends  of  Phila- 
delphia on  the  subject,  and  he  obtaining  a  certificate 
suitable  to  the  occasion,  we  set  off  in  the  fifth  month, 


THOUGHTS   ON    SLAVERY.  301 

1757.  Coming  to  Nottingham  week-day  meeting, 
we  lodged  at  John  Churchman's,  where  I  met  with 
our  friend,  Benjamin  Burlington,  from  New  England, 
who  was  returning  from  a  visit  to  the  Southern  Prov- 
inces. Thence  we  crossed  the  river  Susquehanna, 
and  lodged  at  William  Cox's  in  Maryland  ;  and  soon 
after  I  entered  this  province  a  deep  and  painful  exer- 
cise came  upon  me,  which  I  often  had  some  feeling 
of,  since  my  mind  was  drawn  toward  these  parts,  and 
with  which  I  had  acquainted  my  brother  before  we 
agreed  to  join  as  companions. 

As  the  people  in  this  and  the  Southern  Provinces 
live  much  on  the  labor  of  slaves,  many  of  whom  are 
used  hardly,  my  concern  was  that  I  might  attend  with 
singleness  of  heart  to  the  voice  of  the  true  Shepherd, 
and  be  supported  as  to  remain  unmoved  at  the  faces 
of  men. 

As  it  is  common  for  Friends  on  such  a  visit  to  have 
entertainment  free  of  cost,  a  difficulty  arose  in  my  mind 
with  respect  to  saving  my  money  by  kindness  received 
from  what  appeared  to  me  to  be  the  gain  of  oppression. 

Receiving  a  gift,  considered  as  a  gift,  brings  the 
receiver  under  obligations  to  the  benefactor,  and  has 
a  natural  tendency  to  draw  the  obliged  into  a  party  with 
the  giver.  To  prevent  difficulties  of  this  kind,  and  to 
preserve  the  minds  of  judges  from  any  bias,  was  that 
Divine  prohibition  :  *«  Thou  shalt  not  receive  any 
gift  ;  for  a  gift  blindeth  the  wise,  and  perverteth  the 
words  of  the  righteous."  (Exod.  xxiii.  8.)  As  the 
disciples  were  sent  forth  without  any  provision  for  their 
journey,  and  our  Lord  said  the  workman  is  worthy 
of  his  meat,  their  labor  in  the  gospel  was  considered 
as  a  reward  for  their  entertainment,  and  therefore  not 


302  JOHN   WOOLMAN. 

received  as  a  gift ;  yet,  in  regard  to  my  present  jour- 
ney, I  could  not  see  my  way  clear  in  that  respect. 
The  difference  appeared  thus  :  the  entertainment  the 
disciples  met  with  was  from  them  whose  hearts  God 
had  opened  to  receive  them,  from  a  love  to  them  and 
the  truth  they  published  ;  but  we,  considered  as  mem- 
bers of  the  same  religious  society,  look  upon  it  as  a 
piece  of  civility  to  receive  each  other  in  such  visits  ; 
and  such  reception,  at  times,  is  partly  in  regard  to 
reputation,  and  not  from  an  inward  unity  of  heart  and 
spirit.  Conduct  is  more  convincing  than  language, 
and  where  people,  by  their  actions,  manifest  that  the 
slave-trade  is  not  so  disagreeable  to  their  principles  but 
that  it  may  be  encouraged,  there  is  not  a  sound  unit- 
ing with  some  Friends  who  visit  them. 

The  prospect  of  so  weighty  a  work,  and  of  being 
so  distinguished  from  many  whom  I  esteemed  before 
myself,  brought  me  very  low,  and  such  were  the  con- 
flicts of  my  soul  that  I  had  a  near  sympathy  with  the 
Prophet,  in  the  time  of  his  weakness,  when  he  said  : 
•«  If  thou  deal  thus  with  me,  kill  me,  I  pray  thee,  if  I 
have  found  favor  in  thy  sight."  (Num.  xi.  15.)  But 
I  soon  saw  that  this  proceeded  from  the  want  of  a  full 
resignation  to  the  Divine  will.  Many  were  the  afflic- 
tions which  attended  me,  and  in  great  abasement,  with 
many  tears,  my  cries  were  to  the  Almighty  for  his 
gracious  and  fatherly  assistance,  and  after  a  time  of 
deep  trial  I  was  favored  to  understand  the  state  men- 
tioned by  the  Psalmist  more  clearly  than  ever  I  had 
done  before  ;  to  wit  :  "  My  soul  is  even  as  a  weaned 
child."  (Psalm  cxxxi.  2.)  Being  thus  helped  to 
sink  down  into  resignation,  I  felt  a  deliverance  from  that 
tempest  in  which  I  had   been  sorely  exercised,  and  ir 


THOUGHTS   ON    SLAVERY.  303 

calmness  of  mind  went  forward,  trusting  that  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  as  I  faithfully  attended  to  him,  would  be 
a  counsellor  to  me  in  all  difficulties,  and  that  by  his 
strength  I  should  be  enabled  even  to  leave  money 
with  the  members  of  society  where  I  had  entertain- 
ment, when  I  found  that  omitting  it  would  obstruct 
that  work  to  which  I  believed  he  had  called  me.  As 
I  copy  this  after  my  return,  I  may  here  add,  that 
oftentimes  I  did  so  under  a  sense  of  duty.  The  way 
in  which  I  did  it  was  thus  :  when  I  expected  soon  to 
leave  a  Friend's  house  where  I  had  entertainment,  if 
I  believed  that  I  should  not  keep  clear  from  the  gain 
of  oppression  without  leaving  money,  I  spoke  to  one 
of  the  heads  of  the  family  privately,  and  desired  them 
to  accept  of  those  pieces  of  silver,  and  give  them  to 
such  of  their  negroes  as  they  believed  would  make  the 
best  use  of  them  ;  and  at  other  times  I  gave  them  to 
the  negroes  myself,  as  the  way  looked  clearest  to  me. 
Before  I  came  out,  I  had  provided  a  large  number  of 
small  pieces  for  this  purpose  and  thus  offering  them  to 
some  who  appeared  to  be  wealthy  people  was  a  trial 
both  to  me  and  them.  But  the  fear  of  the  Lord  so 
covered  me  at  times  that  my  way  was  made  easier 
than  I  expected  ;  and  few,  if  any,  manifested  any 
resentment  at  the  offer,  and  most  of  them,  after  some 
conversation,  accepted  of  them.    .    .    . 

We  pursued  our  journey  without  appointing  meet- 
ings, being  pressed  in  my  mind  to  be  at  the  Yearly  Meet- 
ing in  Virginia.  In  my  travelling  on  the  road,  I  often 
felt  a  cry  rise  from  the  centre  of  my  mind,  thus  : 
**■  O  Lord,  I  am  a  stranger  on  the  earth,  hide  not 
thy  face  from  me."  On  the  11th,  we  crossed  the 
rivers  Patowmack  and   Rapahannock,  and   lodged  at 


304  JOHN   WOOLMAN. 

Port  Royal.  On  the  way  we  had  the  company  of 
a  colonel  of  the  militia,  who  appeared  to  be  a  thought- 
ful man.  I  took  occasion  to  remark  on  the  difference 
in  general  betwixt  a  people  used  to  labor  moderately 
for  their  living,  training  up  their  children  in  frugality 
and  business,  and  those  who  live  on  the  labor  of 
slaves  ;  the  former,  in  my  view,  being  the  most 
happy  life.  He  concurred  in  the  remark,  and 
mentioned  the  trouble  arising  from  the  untoward, 
slothful  disposition  of  the  negroes,  adding  that  one 
of  our  laborers  would  do  as  much  in  a  day  as  two  of 
their  slaves.  I  replied,  that  free  men  whose  minds 
were  properly  on  their  business,  found  a  satisfaction  in 
improving,  cultivating,  and  providing  for  their  families  ; 
but  negroes,  laboring  to  support  others  who  claim  them 
as  their  property,  and  expecting  nothing  but  slavery  dur- 
ing life,  had  not  the  like  inducement  to  be  industrious. 
After  some  further  conversation  I  said,  that  men 
having  power  too  often  misapplied  it  ;  that  though 
we  made  slaves  of  the  negroes,  and  the  Turks  made 
slaves  of  the  Christians,  I  believed  that  liberty  was 
the  natural  right  of  all  men  equally.  This  he  did 
not  deny,  but  said  the  lives  of  the  negroes  were  so 
wretched  in  their  own  country  that  many  of  them 
lived  better  here  than  there.  I  replied,  "There  is 
great  odds  in  regard  to  us  on  what  principle  we  act ;  " 
and  so  the  conversation  on  that  subject  ended.  I 
may  here  add  that  another  person,  some  time  after- 
wards, mentioned  the  wretchedness  of  the  negroes, 
occasioned  by  their  intestine  wars,  as  an  argument  in 
favor  of  our  fetching  them  away  for  slaves.  To 
which  I  replied,  if  compassion  for  the  Africans,  on 
account  of  their  domestic  troubles,  was  the  real  mo- 


THOUGHTS  ON  SLAVERY.     305 

tive  of  our  purchasing  them,  that  spirit  of  tenderness 
being  attended  to,  would  incite  us  to  use  them  kindly, 
that,  as  strangers  brought  out  of  affliction,  their  lives 
might  be  happy  among  us.  And  as  they  are  human 
creatures,  whose  souls  are  as  precious  as  ours,  and 
who  may  receive  the  same  help  and  comfort  from  the 
Holy  Scriptures  as  we  do,  we  could  not  omit  suitable 
endeavors  to  instruct  them  therein  ;  but  that  while 
we  manifest  by  our  conduct  that  our  views  in  pur- 
chasing them  are  to  advance  ourselves,  and  while  our 
buving  captives  taken  in  war  animates  those  parties  to 
push  on  the  war,  and  increase  desolation  amongst 
them,  to  say  they  live  unhappily  in  Africa  is  far  from 
being  an  argument  in  our  favor.    .    .    . 

As  I  was  riding  along  [in  Virginia]  in  the  morn- 
ing, my  mind  was  deeply  affected  in  a  sense  I  had  of 
the  need  of  Divine  aid  to  support  me  in  the  various 
difficulties  which  attended  me,  and  in  uncommon  dis- 
tress of  mind  I  cried  in  secret  to  the  Most  High,  "  O 
Lord  be  merciful,  I  beseech  thee,  to  thy  poor  afflicted 
creature!"  After  some  time,  I  felt  inward  relief, 
and,  soon  after,  a  Friend  in  company  began  to  talk 
in  support  of  the  slave-trade,  and  said  the  negroes 
were  understood  to  be  the  offspring  of  Cain,  their 
blackness  being  the  mark  which  God  set  upon  him 
after  he  murdered  Abel  his  brother  ;  that  it  was  the 
design  of  Providence  they  should  be  slaves,  as  a  con- 
dition proper  to  the  race  of  so  wicked  a  man  as  Cain 
was.  Then  another  spake  in  support  of  what  had 
been  said.  To  all  which  I  replied  in  substance  as 
follows  :  that  Noah  and  his  family  were  all  who  sur- 
vived the  flood,  according  to  Scripture  ;  and  as  Noah 
was  of  Seth's  race,  the  family  of  Cain  was  wholly 


306  JOHN   WOOLMAN. 

destroyed.  One  of  them  said  that  after  the  flood 
Ham  went  to  the  land  of  Nod  and  took  a  wife  ;  that 
Nod  was  a  land  far  distant,  inhabited  by  Cain's  race, 
and  that  the  flood  did  not  reach  it  ;  and  as  Ham  was 
sentenced  to  be  a  servant  of  servants  to  his  brethren, 
these  two  families,  being  thus  joined,  were  un- 
doubtedly fit  only  for  slaves.  I  replied,  the  flood 
was  a  judgment  upon  the  world  for  their  abomina- 
tions, and  it  was  granted  that  Cain's  stock  was  the 
most  wicked,  and  therefore  unreasonable  to  suppose 
that  they  were  spared.  As  to  Ham's  going  to 
the  land  of  Nod  for  a  wife,  no  time  being  fixed, 
Nod  might  be  inhabited  by  some  of  Noah's  family 
before  Ham  married  a  second  time  ;  moreover  the 
text  saith  '  *  That  all  flesh  died  that  moved  upon  the 
earth."  (Gen.  vii.  21.)  I  further  reminded  them 
how  the  prophets  repeatedly  declare  "that  the  son 
shall  not  suffer  for  the  iniquity  of  the  father,  but 
every  one  be  answerable  for  his  own  sins."  I  was 
troubled  to  perceive  the  darkness  of  their  imaginations, 
and  in  some  pressure  of  spirit  said,  "The  love  of 
ease  and  gain  are  the  motives  in  general  of  keeping 
slaves,  and  men  are  wont  to  take  hold  of  weak  argu- 
ments to  support  a  cause  which  is  unreasonable.  I 
have  no  interest  on  either  side,  save  only  the  interest 
which  I  desire  to  have  in  the  truth.  I  believe  liberty 
is  their  right,  and  as  I  see  they  are  not  only  deprived 
of  it,  but  treated  in  other  respects  with  inhumanity  in 
many  places,  I  believe  He  who  is  a  refuge  for  the 
oppressed  will,  in  his  own  time,  plead  their  cause, 
and  happy  will  it  be  for  such  as  walk  in  uprightness 
before  him. ' '  And  thus  our  conversation  ended.  .  .  . 
The   prospect  of  a  road  lying  open  to  the  same 


THOUGHTS   ON    SLAVERY.  307 

degeneracy,  in  some  parts  o{  this  newly  settled  land 
of  America,  in  respect  to  our  conduct  towards  the 
negroes,  hath  deeply  bowed  my  mind  in  this  journey, 
and  though  briefly  to  relate  how  these  people  are 
treated  is  no  agreeable  work,  yet,  after  often  reading 
over  the  notes  I  made  as  I  travelled,  I  find  my  mind 
engaged  to  preserve  them.  Many  of  the  white 
people  in  those  provinces  take  little  or  no  care  of 
negro  marriages  ;  and  when  negroes  marry  after  their 
own  way,  some  make  so  little  account  of  those  mar- 
riages that  with  views  of  outward  interest  they  often 
part  men  from  their  wives  by  selling  them  far  asunder, 
which  is  common  when  estates  are  sold  by  executors 
at  vendue.  Many  whose  labor  is  heavy  being  fol- 
lowed at  their  business  in  the  field  by  a  man  with  a 
whip,  hired  for  that  purpose,  have  in  common  little 
else  allowed  but  one  peck  of  Indian  corn  and  some 
salt,  for  one  week,  with  a  few  potatoes  ;  the  pota- 
toes they  commonly  raise  by  their  labor  on  the  first 
day  of  the  week. 

The  correction  ensuing  on  their  disobedience  to 
overseers,  or  slothfulness  in  business,  is  often  very 
severe,  and  sometimes  desperate. 

Men  and  women  have  many  times  scarcely  clothes 
sufficient  to  hide  their  nakedness,  and  boys  and  girls 
ten  and  twelve  years  old  are  often  quite  naked 
amongst  their  master's  children.  Some  of  our 
Society,  and  some  of  the  society  called  Newlights, 
use  some  endeavors  to  instruct  those  they  have  in 
reading  ;  but  in  common  this  is  not  only  neglected, 
but  disapproved.  These  are  the  people  by  whose 
labor  the  other  inhabitants  are  in  a  great  measure  sup- 
ported,  and  many  of  them  in   the  luxuries   of  life. 


308  JOHN   WOOLMAN. 

These  are  the  people  who  have  made  no  agreement 
to  serve  us,  and  who  have  not  forfeited  their  liberty 
that  we  know  of.  These  are  the  souls  for  whom 
Christ  died,  and  for  our  conduct  towards  them  we 
must  answer  before  Him  who  is  no  respecter  of  per- 
sons. They  who  know  the  only  true  God,  and 
Jesus  Christ  whom  he  hath  sent,  and  are  thus  ac- 
quainted with  the  merciful,  benevolent,  gospel  spirit, 
will  therein  perceive  that  the  indignation  of  God  is 
kindled  against  oppression  and  cruelty,  and  in  be- 
holding the  great  distress  of  so  numerous  a  people 
will  find  cause  for  mourning. 


OBJECTIONS    TO    DYED    GARMENTS. 

[From  the  Same,   Chap.   VIII.] 

From  my  early  acquaintance  with  truth  I  have 
often  felt  an  inward  distress,  occasioned  by  the  striv- 
ing of  a  spirit  in  me,  against  the  operation  of  the 
heavenly  principle ;  and  in  this  circumstance  have 
been  affected  with  a  sense  of  my  own  wretchedness, 
and  in  a  mourning  condition  felt  earnest  longing  for 
that  divine  help  which  brings  the  soul  into  true  lib- 
erty ;  and  sometimes  in  this  state,  retiring  into  private 
places,  the  spirit  of  supplication  hath  been  given  me, 
and  under  a  heavenly  covering  have  asked  my  gracious 
Father  to  give  me  a  heart  in  all  things  resigned  to  the 
direction  of  his  wisdom,  and  in  uttering  language  like 
this  the  thoughts  of  my  wearing  hats  and  garments 
dyed  with  a  dye  hurtful  to  them  has  made  lasting 
impressions  on  me. 


OBJECTIONS   TO   DYED   GARMENTS.     309 

In  visiting  people  of  note  in  the  society  who  had 
slaves,  and  laboring  with  them  in  brotherly  love  on 
that  account,  I  have  seen,  and  the  sight  has  affected 
me,  that  a  conformity  to  some  customs,  distinguish- 
able from  pure  wisdom,  has  entangled  many;  and 
the  desire  of  gain  to  support  these  customs  greatly 
opposed  the  work  of  truth;  and  sometimes  when  the 
prospect  of  the  work  before  me  has  been  such  that  in 
bowedness  of  spirit  I  have  been  drawn  into  retired 
places  and  besought  the  Lord,  with  tears,  that  he 
would  take  me  wholly  under  his  direction  and  show 
me  the  way  in  which  I  ought  to  walk ;  it  hath  re- 
vived with  strength  of  conviction  that  if  I  would  be 
his  faithful  servant  I  must  in  all  things  attend  to  his 
wisdom  and  be  teachable ;  and  so  cease  from  all  cus- 
toms contrary  thereto,  however  used  among  religious 
people. 

As  he  is  the  perfection  of  power,  of  wisdom,  and 
of  goodness,  so  I  believe  he  hath  provided  that  so 
much  labor  shall  be  necessary  for  men's  support  in 
this  world  as  would,  being  rightly  divided,  be  a  suit- 
able employment  of  their  time,  and  that  we  cannot 
go  into  superfluities  or  grasp  after  wealth  in  a  way 
contrary  to  his  wisdom  without  having  connection 
with  some  degree  of  oppression  and  with  that  spirit 
which  leads  to  self-exaltation  and  strife,  and  which 
frequently  brings  calamities  on  countries  by  parties 
contending  about  their  claims. 

Being  thus  fully  convinced,  and  feeling  an  increas- 
ing desire  to  live  in  the  spirit  of  peace ;  being  often 
sorrowfully  affected  with  the  thinking  on  the  unquiet 
spirit  in  which  wars  are  generally  carried  on,  and 
with   the   miseries   of  many    of  my   fellow-creatures 


310  JOHN   WOOLMAN. 

engaged  therein ;  some  suddenly  destroyed ;  some 
wounded,  and  after  much  pain  remain  cripples; 
some  deprived  of  all  their  outward  substance  and 
reduced  to  want;  and  some  carried  into  captivity. 
Thinking  often  on  these  things,  the  use  of  hats  and 
garments  dyed  with  a  dye  hurtful  to  them,  and  wear- 
ing more  clothes  in  summer  than  are  useful,  grew 
more  uneasy  to  me,  believing  them  to  be  customs 
which  have  not  their  foundation  in  pure  wisdom. 
The  apprehension  of  being  singular  from  my  beloved 
Friends  was  a  strait  upon  me,  and  thus  I  remained 
in  the  use  of  some  things  contrary  to  my  judgment. 

On  the  thirty-first  day  of  the  fifth  month,  1 761,  I 
was  taken  ill  of  a  fever,  and  after  having  it  near  a 
week,  I  was  in  great  distress  of  body ;  and  one  day 
there  was  a  cry  raised  in  me  that  I  might  understand 
the  cause  why  I  was  afflicted,  and  improve  under  it ; 
and  my  conformity  to  some  customs  which  I  believed 
were  not  right  were  brought  to  my  remembrance  ; 
and  in  the  continuation  of  the  exercise  I  felt  all  the 
powers  in  me  yield  themselves  up  into  the  hands  of 
Him  who  gave  me  being,  and  was  made  thankful  that 
he  had  taken  hold  of  me  by  his  chastisement.  See- 
ing the  necessity  of  further  purifying,  there  was  now 
no  desire  in  me  for  health  until  the  design  of  my  cor- 
rection was  answered,  and  thus  I  lay  in  abasement 
and  brokenness  of  spirit,  and  as  I  felt  a  sinking  down 
into  a  calm  resignation,  so  I  felt,  as  in  an  instant,  an 
inward  healing  in  my  nature,  and  from  that  time  for- 
ward I  grew  better. 

Though  I  was  thus  settled  in  mind  in  relation  to 
hurtful  dyes,  I  felt  easy  to  wear  my  garments  hereto- 
fore made,    and   so   continued   about    nine    months. 


OBJECTIONS   TO    DYED   GARMENTS.     311 

Then  I  thought  of  getting  a  hat  the  natural  color  of 
the  fur,  but  the  apprehension  of  being  looked  upon  as 
one  affecting  singularity  felt  uneasy  to  me;  and  here 
I  had  occasion  to  consider,  that  things,  though  small 
in  themselves,  being  clearly  enjoined  by  divine  author- 
ity, became  great  things  to  us ;  and  I  trusted  that  the 
Lord  would  support  me  in  the  trials  that  might  attend 
singularity,  while  that  singularity  was  only  for  his 
sake.  On  this  account  I  was  under  close  exercise 
of  mind  in  the  time  of  our  general  spring-meeting, 
1762,  greatly  desiring  to  be  rightly  directed;  when, 
being  deeply  bowed  in  spirit  before  the  Lord,  I  was 
made  willing  to  submit  to  what  I  apprehended  was 
required  of  me,  and  when  I  returned  home  got  a  hat 
of  the  natural  color  of  the  fur. 

In  attending  meetings,  this  singularity  was  a  trial 
upon  me,  and  more  especially  at  this  time,  white 
hats  being  used  by  some  who  were  fond  of  following 
the  changeable  modes  of  dress ;  and  as  some  Friends, 
who  knew  not  on  what  motive  I  wore  it,  carried  shy 
of  me,  I  felt  my  way  for  a  time  shut  up  in  the  exer- 
cise of  the  ministry  ;  and  in  this  condition,  my  mind 
being  turned  toward  my  heavenly  Father,  with  fer- 
vent cries  that  I  might  be  preserved  to  walk  before 
him  in  the  meekness  of  wisdom,  my  heart  was  often 
tender  in  meetings,  and  I  felt  an  inward  consolation 
which  to  me  was  very  precious  under  those  difficulties. 

I  had  several  dyed  garments  fit  for  use,  which  I 
believed  it  best  to  wear  till  I  had  occasion  of  new 
ones ;  and  some  Friends  were  apprehensive  that  my 
wearing  such  a  hat  savored  of  an  affected  singularity  ; 
and  such  who  spake  with  me  in  a  friendly  way  1 
generally  informed  in  a  few  words  that  I  believed  my 


312  JOHN   WOOLMAN. 

wearing  it  was  not  in  my  own  will.  I  had  at  times 
been  sensible  that  a  superficial  friendship  had  been  dan- 
gerous to  me,  and  many  Friends  being  now  uneasy 
with  me,  I  had  an  inclination  to  acquaint  some  with 
the  manner  of  my  being  led  into  these  things  ;  yet, 
upon  a  deeper  thought,  I  was  for  a  time  most  easy 
to  omit  it,  believing  the  present  dispensation  was 
profitable,  and  trusting  that  if  I  kept  my  place  the 
Lord,  in  his  own  time,  would  open  the  hearts  of 
Friends  toward  me ;  since  which  I  have  had  cause  to 
admire  his  goodness  and  loving-kindness  in  leading 
about  and  instructing  and  opening  and  enlarging  my 
heart  in  some  of  our  meetings. 

A    VISION. 

[From  the  Same,   Chap.   XII.] 

In  a  time  of  sickness  with  the  pleurisy,  a  little  up- 
ward of  two  years  and  a  half  ago,  I  was  brought  so 
near  the  gates  of  death  that  I  forgot  my  name.  Being 
then  desirous  to  know  who  I  was,  I  saw  a  mass  of 
matter  of  a  dull,  gloomy  color,  between  the  south 
and  the  east ;  and  was  informed  that  this  mass  was 
human  beings  in  as  great  misery  as  they  could  be  and 
live ;  and  that  I  was  mixed  in  with  them,  and  that 
henceforth  I  might  not  consider  myself  as  a  distinct 
or  separate  being.  In  this  state  I  remained  several 
hours.  I  then  heard  a  soft,  melodious  voice,  more 
pure  and  harmonious  than  any  I  had  heard  with  my 
ears  before ;  I  believed  it  was  the  voice  of  an  angel , 
who  spake  to  the  other  angels.  The  words  were  : 
"  John  Woolman  is  dead."      I  soon  remembered  that 


A   VISION. 


3*3 


I  once  was  John  Woolman,  and  being  assured  that  I 
was  alive  in  the  body,  I  greatly  wondered  what  that 
heavenly  voice  could  mean. 

I  believed  beyond  doubting  that  it  was  the  voice 
of  an  holy  angel  ;  but  as  yet  it  was  a  mystery  to  me. 

I  was  then  carried  in  spirit  to  the  mines,  where 
poor,  oppressed  people  were  digging  rich  treasures 
for  those  called  Christians,  and  heard  them  blaspheme 
the  name  of  Christ,  at  which  I  was  grieved,  for  his 
name  to  me  was  precious. 

Then  I  was  informed  that  these  heathen  were  told 
that  those  who  oppressed  them  were  the  followers  of 
Christ  ;  and  they  said  amongst  themselves,  if  Christ 
directed  them  to  use  us  in  this  sort,  then  Christ  is  a 
cruel  tyrant. 

All  this  time  the  song  of  the  angel  remained  a  mys- 
tery ;  and  in  the  morning  my  dear  wife  and  some 
others  coming  to  my  bedside,  I  asked  them  if  they 
knew  who  I  was  ;  and  they  telling  me  I  was  John 
Woolman,  thought  I  was  light-headed,  for  I  told  them 
not  what  the  angel  said,  nor  was  I  disposed  to  talk 
much  to  any  one,  but  was  very  desirous  to  get  so  deep 
that  I  might  understand  this  mystery. 

My  tongue  was  often  so  dry  that  I  could  not  speak 
till  I  had  moved  it  about  and  gathered  some  moisture, 
and  as  I  lay  still  for  a  time,  at  length  I  felt  divine 
power  prepare  my  mouth  that  I  could  speak,  and 
then  I  said  :  "  I  am  crucified  with  Christ,  nevertheless 
I  live  ;  yet  not  I,  but  Christ  that  liveth  in  me  ;  and 
the  life  I  now  live  in  the  flesh  is  by  faith  in  the  Son 
of  God,  who  loved  me,  and  gave  himself  for  me." 

Then  the  mystery  was  opened,  and  I  perceived 
there  was  joy  in  heaven  over  a  sinner  who   had  re- 


314  JOHN   WOOLMAN. 

pented,  and  that  that  language — "John  Woolman 
is  dead  "  —  meant  no  more  than  the  death  of  my  own 
will. 

Soon  after  this  I  coughed  and  raised  much  bloody- 
matter,  which  I  had  not  done  during  this  vision,  and 
now  my  natural  understanding  returned  as  before. 
Here  I  saw  that  people  getting  silver  vessels  to  set 
off  their  tables  at  entertainments  were  often  stained 
with  worldly  glory,  and  that  in  the  present  state  of 
things  I  should  take  heed  how  I  fed  myself  from  out 
of  silver  vessels. 

Soon  after  my  recovery,  I,  going  to  our  monthly- 
meeting,  dined  at  a  Friend's  house  where  drink  was 
brought  in  silver  vessels,  and  not  in  any  other  ;  and 
I,  wanting  some  drink,  told  him  my  case  with  weeping, 
and  he  ordered  some  drink  for  me  in  another  vessel. 

The  like  I  afterward  went  through  in  several 
Friend's  houses  in  America,  and  have  also  in  Eng- 
land, since  I  came  here  ;  and  have  cause,  with  hum- 
ble reverence,  to  acknowledge  the  loving-kindness  of 
my  heavenly  Father  who  hath  preserved  me  in  such 
a  tender  frame  of  mind  that  none,  I  believe,  have  ever 
been  offended  at  what  I  have  said  on  that  occasion. 


PHILIP   VICKERS    FITHIAN. 

Philip  Vickers  Fithian,  whose  diary  and  letters 
afford  one  of  the  most  interesting  pictures  that  we  pos- 
sess of  the  intimate  life  of  New  Jersey  and  Virginia  in 
the  years  just  preceding  the  Revolution,  was  born  in 
1 747  of  English  stock,  entered  Princeton  College 
in  1770  in  the  class  of  Aaron  Burr,  James  Madison, 
and  Henry  Lee  ;  studied  theology,  taught  for  a  year 
(1773— 1774)  in  the  family  of  Robert  Carter  at  his 
famous  county-seat,  Nomini  Hall,  in  Westmoreland 
County,  Virginia,  was  ordained,  served  as  a  frontier 
missionary  in  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania,  enlisted  as 
chaplain  in  the  New  Jersey  militia  in  July,  1776,  and 
died  in  October  of  that  year,  of  camp  fever  at  Fort 
Washington  New  York.  A  selection  from  his  carefully 
guarded  papers  was  edited  in  1900  by  John  Rogers 
Williams  for  the  Princeton  Historical  Association  — 
and  from  this  our  extracts  are  taken  by  permission. 
The  idiosyncrasies  of  the  writer  are  retained 
throughout. 

LIFE    AT    PRINCETON    IN    1770. 

[From   His  First  Letter  from   College, 
Nov.  30,  1770.] 

Every  Student  must  rise  in  the  Morning,  at  far- 
thest by  half  an  hour  after  five  ;  the  grammar  Schollars 
being  most  of  them  small,  &  lodging  also  in  Town  at 

315 


316  PHILIP  VICKERS   FITHIAN. 

some  Distance  from  the  College,  are,  in  Winter,  ex- 
cused from  attending  morning  Prayrs. 
.  The  Bell  rings  at  five,  after  which  there  is  an 
Intermission  of  half  an  hour,  that  everyone  may 
have  time  to  dress,  at  the  end  of  which  it  rings  again, 
&  Prayrs  begin  ;  And  lest  any  should  plead  that  he 
did  not  hear  the  Bell,  the  Servant  who  rings,  goes  to 
every  Door  &  beats  till  he  wakens  the  Boys,  which 
leaves  them  without  Excuse. 

There  are  Bill-keepers  in  each  Class,  appointed 
generally  by  the  President,  or  in  his  absence  by  one 
of  the  Tutors,  who  take  Notice,  &  set  down  those 
who  are  absent  from  Morning  or  evening  Prayrs,  & 
once  every  week  present  their  Bill  to  the  Doctor,  or 
one  of  the  Tutors,  who  call  each  delinquent,  &  de- 
mand their  Excuse,  which  if  it  is  thought  sumceant 
is  accepted,  if  not  they  are  fined,  or  privately  ad- 
monished, &  if  the  same  person  is  found  frequently 
guilty,  without  good  reason,  he  receives  public 
Admonition  in  the  Hall  for  Contempt  of  Authority. 

After  morning  Prayrs,  we  can,  now,  in  the  Win- 
ter, study  an  hour  by  candle  Light  every  Morning. 

We  breakfast  at  eight  ;  from  Eight  to  nine,  is 
time  of  our  own,  to  play,  or  exercise. 

At  nine  the  Bell   rings   for  Recitation,  after  which 

we  study  till  one,  when  the  Bell  rings  for  Dinner 

We  dine  all  in  the  same  Room,  at  three  Tables,  &  so 
we  breakfast  and  sup  : 

After  dinner  till  three  we  have  Liberty  to  go  out 
at  Pleasure. 

From  three  til*  five  we  study,  when  the  Bell 
rings  for  evening  Prayrs. 

We  sup  at  seven  ;  at  nine  the  Bell  rings  for  Study  ; 


LIFE   AT    PRINCETON    IN    1770.         317 

And  a  Tutor  goes  through  College,  to  see  that  every 
Student  is  in  his  own  Room  ;  if  he  finds  that  any  are 
absent,  or  more  in  any  Room  than  belongs  there,  he 
notes  them  down,  &  the  day  following  calls  them  to 
an  Account. 

After  nine  any  may  go  to  bed,  but  to  go  before  is 
reproachful. 

No  Student  is  allowed,  on  any  pretence,  Sickness 
only  excepted,  to  be  absent  on  Sunday,  from  public 
Worship  :  We  have  two  Sermons  every  Sabbath  : 
One  at  eleven  in  the  morning,  in  the  Church  ;  & 
the  other  at  three  in  the  Afternoon,  in  the  College 
Hall.  I  am  indeed  much  pleased  with  Dr.  Wither- 
spoon  &  think  his  Sermons  almost  inimitable. 

We  rise  on  Sabbath  mornings  &  have  Prayrs  as 
usual,   .    .    . 

About  seven  the  supper  Bell  rings,  immediately 
after  which,  each  Class  meets  separately  in  Rooms  be- 
longing to  one  of  themselves  ;  The  Seniors  alone  meet 
in  a  Room  belonging  to  one  of  the  Seniors  ;  &  the 
Juniors  by  themselves  meet  in  a  Room  belonging  to 
one  of  themselves  ;  &  in  like  manner  do  the  in- 
ferior Classes.  And  one  in  each  Class,  as  his  Name 
comes  in  alphebetical  Order,  gives  out  a  Psalm  to 
be  sung,  &  prays  ;  after  which  they  disperse,  and 
retire  to  their  respective  Rooms. 

There  are  upwards  of  an  hundred  now  in  the 
College  including  the  grammar  Scholars  :  The  present 
Senior  Class  consists  of  ten  :  The  Junior  of  twenty- 
eight  :  The  Sopbimore  of  twenty-five :  And  the 
Freshman  of  eighteen  :  In  the  School  there  are  about 
twenty-five. 


31  8  PHILIP  VICKERS   FITHIAN. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  A  COLLEGE  GRADU- 
ATE. 

[From  the  Diary  for  Monday,  Sept.  19,  1774.] 

This  Day  begins  the  examination  of  the  Junior 
class  at  Nassau-Hall.  Every  time  I  reflect  on  that 
Place  of  retirement  &  Study,  where  I  spent  two 
years  which  I  call  the  most  pleasant  as  well  as  the 

most  important   Period  in  my  past  life Always 

when  I  think  upon  the  Studies,  the  Discipline, 
the  Companions,  the  Neigbburhood,  the  exercises, 
&  Diversions,  it  gives  me  a  secret  &  real  Pleasure, 
even  the  Foibles  which  often  prevail  there  are  pleas- 
ant on  recollection  ;  such  as  giving  each  other  names 
&  characters;  Meeting  &  Shoving  in  the  dark 
entries  :  knocking  at  Doors  &  going  off  without 
entering  ;  Strowing  the  entries  in  the  night  with 
greasy  Feathers  ;   freezing  the  Bell  ;    Ringing  it  at  late 

Hours  of  the  Night 1  may  add  that  it  does  not 

seem   disagreeable  to  think  over  the    Mischiefs  often 

practised  by  wanton  Boys Such  are  writing  witty 

pointed  anonymous  Papers,  in  Songs,  Confessions, 
Wills,    Soliliques,  Proclamations,  Advertisements  &c. 

Picking  from  the  neighbourhood  now  &  then  a 

plump  fat  Hen  or  Turkey  for  the  private  entertain- 
ment of  the  Club  "  instituted  for  inventing  & 
practising  several  new  kinds  of  mischief  in  a  secret 
polite  Manner ' ' Parading  bad  Women Burn- 
ing    Curse-John Darting   Sun-Beams  upon  the 

Town-People  Reconoitering  Houses  in  the  Town, 
&  ogling  Women  with  the   Telescope Making 


A   VIRGINIA    SUNDAY    IN    1773.         319 

Squibs,  &  other  frightful  compositions  with  Gun- 
Powder,  &  lighting  them  in  the  Rooms  of  timorous 

Boys,  &  new  comers The  various  methods  used 

in  naturalizing  strangers,  of  incivility  in  the  Dining- 
Room  to  make  them  bold  ;  writing  them  sharp  & 
threatning  Letters  to  make  them  smart  ;  leading  them 
at  first  with  long  Lessons  to  make  them  industrious 

And  trying  them  by  Jeers  &  Repartee  in  order 

to  make  them  choose  their  Companions  &c.  &c. 


A    VIRGINIA    SUNDAY    IN    1773. 

[From  the  Diary  for  Monday,  Dec.  13,  1773.] 

...  I  observe  it  is  a  general  custom  on  Sundays 
here,  with  Gentlemen  to  invite  one  another  home 
to  dine,  after  Church  ;  and  to  consult  about, 
&    determine    their    common    business,    either    before 

or    after    Service It     is    not    the    custom     for 

Gentlemen  to  go  into  Church  til  Service  is  beginning, 
when  they  enter  in  a  Body,  in  the  same  manner  as 
they  come  out ;   I  have  known  the  Clerk  to  come  out 

and  call  them  in  to  prayers. They  stay  also  after 

the  Service  is  over,  usually  as  long,  sometimes  longer, 

than    the    Parson    was    preaching Almost    every 

Lady  wears  a  red  Cloak  ;  and  when  they  ride  out 
they  tye  a  red  handkerchief  over  their  Head  and  face, 
so  that  when  I  first  came  into  Virginia,  I  was  dis- 
tressed whenever  I  saw  a  Lady,  for  I  thought  she  had 

the    Tooth-Ach  ! The     People    are    extremely 

hospitable,  and  very  polite  both  of  which  are  most 
certainly  universal   Characteristics  of  the  Gentlemen 


320  PHILIP  VICKERS   FITHIAN. 

in  Virginia some  swear  bitterly,  but  the  practise 

seems  to  be  generally  disapproved I  have  heard 

that  this  Country  is  notorious  for  Gaming,  however 
this  be,  I  have  not  seen  a  Pack  of  Cards,  nor  a  Die, 
since  I  left  home,  nor  gaming  or  Betting  of  any  kind 
except  at  the  Richmond-Race.  Almost  every  Gen- 
tleman of  Condition,  keeps  a  Chariot  and  Four ; 
many  drive  with  six  Horses. 
July  I  oth,  1774. 

A  Sunday  in  Virginia  dont  seem  to  wear  the  same 

Dress  as  our  Sundays  to  the  Northward Generally 

here  by  five  o' Clock  on  Saturday  every  Face  (espe- 
cially the  Negroes)  looks  festive  &  cheerful —All 

the  lower  class  of  People,  &  the  Servants,  &  the 
Slaves,  consider  it  as  a  Day  of  Pleasure  &  amusement, 
&  spend  it  in  such  Diversion,  as  they  severally  choose 

The  Gentlemen  go  to  Church  to  be  sure,  but 

they  make  that  itself  a  matter  of  convenience,  & 
account   the    Church   a   useful    weekly  resort   to   do 

Business 1   am  told,  for  I  have  not  yet  been  to 

Church  since  my  Return,  that  all  the  Sermons  are  in 
the  forensic  Style,  &  on  political  Subjects. 


WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE  IN  1774. 

[From  the  Diary,  Feb.  12,  1774.] 

After  having  dismissed  the  School  I  went  over 

to  Ml  Carters  Study We  conversed  on  many 

things,  &  at  length  on  the  College  of  William  &  Mary 
at  Williamsburg.  He  informed  me  that  it  is  in  such 
confusion  at  present,  and  so  badly  directed,  that  he 


A   VIRGINIA   PLANTER'S   MANSION.      32 1 

cannot  send    his  Children  with    propriety  there   for 

Improvement  &  useful  Education That  he  has 

known  the  Professors  to  play  all  Night  at  Cards  in 
publick  Houses  in  the  City,  and  has  often  seen  them 

drunken  in  the  Street  ! That  the  Charter  of  the 

College  is  vastly  Extensive,  and  the  yearly  income 
sufficient  to  support  a  University  being  about  4.000  £ 

Sterling. That  the  Necessary  Expence  of  each 

Scholar  yearly  is  only  1  5  -£  Currency.  Two  of  the 
officers  of  the  Institution,  Mr  Bracken,  &  Mr  Henly 
Clergymen  are  at  present  engaged  in  a  paper  War 
published  weekly  in  the  Williamsburg  Gazette's. 


A   VIRGINIA    PLANTER'S   MANSION. 

[From  the  Diary,  March    18,    1774.] 

...  Mr  Carter  has  chosen  for  the  place  of  his 
habitation  a  high  spot  of  Ground  in  Westmoreland 
County  at  the  Head  of  the  Navigation  of  the  River 
Nomini,  where  he  has  erected  a  large  Elegant  House,1 
at  a  vast  expence,  which  commonly  goes  by  the  name 
of  'Nomini- Hall.  This  House  is  built  with  Brick, 
but  the  bricks  have  been  covered  with  strong  lime 
Mortar  ;  so  that  the  building  is  now  perfectly  white  ; 
It  is  seventy-six  Feet  long  from  East  to  West  ;  & 
forty-four  wide  from  North  to  South,  two  Stories 
high  ;   the  Pitch  of  the  lower  story  seventeen  Feet, 

&  the  upper  Story  twelve It  has  five  Stacks  of 

Chimneys,  tho'   two  of  these  serve   only  for   orna- 
ments. 

1  Built  in  17325   burned,  1850. 


322  PHILIP  VICKERS   FITHIAN. 

There  is  a  beautiful  Jutt,  on  the  South  side,  eigh- 
teen feet  long,  &  eight  Feet  deep  from  the  wall  which 

is  supported  by  three  tall  pillars On  the  South 

side,  or  front,  in  the  upper  story  are  four  Windows 
each  having  twenty-four  Lights  of  Glass.  In  the 
lower  story  are  two  Windows  each  having  forty-two 
Lights  of  Glass,  &  two  Doors  each  having  Sixteen 

Lights At  the  East  end  the  upper  story  has  three 

Windows  each  with  eighteen  Lights  ;  &  below  two 
Windows  both  with  eighteen  Lights  &  a  Door  with 
nine 

The  North  side  I  think  is  the  most  beautiful  of  all  ; 
In  the  upper  Story  is  a  Row  of  seven  Windows  with 
eighteen  Lights  a  piece  ;  and  below  six  windows, 
with  the  like  number  of  lights  ;  besides  a  large  Portico 
in  the  middle,  at  the  sides  of  which  are  two  Windows 

each  with  eighteen  Lights. At  the  West  end  are 

no  Windows The   Number  of  Lights  in  all  is 

five  hundred,  &  forty  nine There  are  four  Rooms 

on  a  Floor,  disposed  of  in  the  following  manner. 
Below  is  a  dining  Room  where  we  usually  sit  ;  the 
second  is  a  dining- Room  for  the  Children  ;  the  third 
is  Mf  Carters  study;    &  the  fourth  is  a  Ball-Room 

thirty  Feet  long Above  stairs,  one  Room  is  for 

MT.  &  Mr.8  Carter  ;  the  second  for  the  young  Ladies  ; 
&  the  other  two  for  occasional  Company.  As  this 
House  is  large,  &  stands  on  a  high  piece  of  Land  it 
may  be  seen  a  considerable  distance  ;  I  have  seen  it 
at  the  Distance  of  six  Miles 

At  equal  Distances  from  each  corner  of  this  Build- 
ing stand  four  other  considerable  Houses,    .    .   . 


VIRGINIA   AND    NEW   JERSEY.        323 


VIRGINIA      AND      NEW     JERSEY      CON- 
TRASTED. 

[From  a  Letter  to  John  Peck,  Fithian's  In- 
tended Successor,  dated  Nomini  Hall,  August 
12,  1774.] 

.  .  .  When  you  have  thought  of  removing,  for 
a  Time,  out  of  the  Colony  in  which  you  was  born, 
&  in  which  you  have  hitherto  constantly  resided,  I 
make  no  doubt  but  you  have  at  the  same  time  expected 
to  find  a  very  considerable  alteration  of  manners, 
among  your  new  acquaintances,  &  some  peculiarities 
toto  Coelo  different,  from  any  you  have  before  been 
accustomed  to.  Such  a  thought  is  natural  ;  And  you 
will  if  you  come  into  Virginia,  in  much  shorter  time 
than  a  year,  be  convinced  that  it  is  just.  In  New- 
Jersey  Government  throughout,  but  especially  in  the 
Counties  where  you  have  any  personal  acquaintance, 
Gentlemen  in  the  first  rank  of  Dignity  &  Quality,  of 
the  Council,  general  Assembly,  inferior  Magistrates, 
Clergy-men,  or  independent  Gentlemen,  without  the 
smallest  fear  of  bringing  any  manner  of  reproach 
either  on  their  office,  or  their  high-born,  long  recorded 
Families  associate  freely  &  commonly  with  Farmers  & 
Mechanicks  tho'  they  be  poor  &  industrious.  Inge- 
nuity &  industry  are  the  Strongest,  &  most  approved 
recommendations  to  a  Man  in  that  Colony.  The 
manners  of  the  People  seem  to  me,  (probably  I  am 
overborn  by  the  force  of  prejudice  in  favour  of  my 
native  Soil),  to  bear  some  considerable  resemblance 
of    the   manners   in   the   ancient   Spartan    Common- 


324  PHILIP  VICKERS    FITHIAN. 

Wealth The    Valour    of  its   Inhabitants  —  was 

the  best,  &  only  security  of  that  State  against  the 
enemy  ;  &  the  wise  laws  of  its  renowned  Legislator 
were  the  powerful  cement  which   kept   them  firm  & 

invincible In  our  Government,  the  laborious  part 

of  Men,  who  are  commonly  ranked  in  the  midling  or 
lower  Class,  are  accounted  the  strength  &  Honour  of 
the  Colony  ;  &  the  encouragement  they  receive  from 
Gentlemen  in  the  highest  stations  is  the  spring  of  In- 
dustry, next  to  their  private  advantage.  The  Levil 
which  is  admired  in  New-Jersey  Government,  among 
People  of  every  rank,  arises,  no  doubt,  from  the  very 
great  division  of  the  lands  in  that  Province,  &  conse- 
quently from  the  near  approach  to  an  equality  of 
Wealth  among  the  Inhabitants,  since  it  is  not  famous 
for  trade.  You  know  very  well  that  the  Lands  in  a 
small  township  are  divided,  &  then  again  subdivided 
into  two  &  three  Hundred  Separate,  proper,  credita- 
ble estates  ;  for  example  Deerjield  &  Fairfield  two 
Townships,  or  Precincts,  in  which  you  &  I  are  tolera- 
bly well  acquainted,  in  the  former  of  which,  are  the 
Seats  of  two  Judges  of  the  Sessions  ;  &  in  the  latter 
resides  one  of  the  representatives  in  General  Assembly 
for  the  County  ;  But  if  1 6000^"  would  purchase  the 
whole  landed  estates  of  these  three  Gentlemen,  who 
are  supposed  to  be  the  most  wealthy  in  the  County, 
if  we  rate  their  Land  at  the  Low  Consideration  of 
4x£  P1-  acre»  w'tn  a^  conveniences,  each  would  have 
4000  Acres.  Now  you  may  suppose  how  small  a 
quantity  many  must  have  when  two  or  three  hundred 
Landholders  reside  in  each  of  these  small  Precincts  ; 
Hence  we  see  Gentlemen,  when  they  are  not  actually 
engaged  in  the  publick  Service,  on  their  farms,  setting 


VIRGINIA   AND   NEW   JERSEY.        325 

a  laborious  example  to  their  Domesticks,  &  on  the 
other  hand  we  see  labourers  at  the  Tables  &  in  the 
Parlours  of 'their   Betters   enjoying   the  advantage,  & 

honour  of  their  society  and   conversation 1  do 

not  call  it  an  objection  to  this,  that  some  few,  who 
have  no  substance  but  work  like  Slaves  as  necessity 
drives  them  for  a  few  Months  in  the  year  ;  with  the 
price  of  this  Labour  they  visit  Philadelphia  ;  &  hav- 
ing there  acquired  a  fashionable  Coat,  &  a  Stock  of 
Impudence,    return  home  to  spend  the  remainder  of 

the  year,  in    idleness  &  disgrace  ! But  you  will 

find  the  tables  turned  the  moment  you  enter  this 
Colony.  The  very  Slaves  in  some  families  here, 
could  not  be  bought  under  30000^".  Such  amazing 
property,  no  matter  how  deep  it  is  involved,  blows 
up  the  owners  to  an  imagination,  which  is  visible  in 
all,  but  in  various  degrees  according  to  their  respective 
virtue,  that  they  are  exalted  as  much  above  other 
Men  in  worth  &  precedency,  as  blind  stupid  fortune 
has  made  a  difference  in  their  property  ;  excepting 
always  the  value   they  put  upon   posts  of  honour,  & 

mental  acquirements For  example,  if  you  should 

travel  through  this  Colony,  with  a  well-confirmed 
testimonial  of  your  having  finished  with  Credit  a 
Course  of  studies  at  Nassau-Hall  ;  you  would  be 
rated,  without  any  more  questions  asked,  either  about 
your  family,  your  Estate,  your  business,  or  your  in- 
tention, at  10,000^  ;  and  you  might  come,  &  go, 
&  converse,  &  keep  company,  according  to  this  value  ; 
and  you  would  be  despised  and  slighted  if  you  rated 
yourself  a  farthing  cheaper.  But  when  I  am  giving 
directions  to  you  from  an  expectation  that  you  will 
be    shortly   a    resident    here,    altho    you    have    gone 


326  PHILIP  VICKERS   FITHIAN. 

through  a  College  Course,  &  for  anything  I  know, 
have  never  written  a  Libel,  nor  stolen  a  Turkey,  yet 
I  think  myself  in  duty  bound  to  advise  you,  lest  some 
powdered  Coxcomb  should  reproach  your  education, 
to  cheapen  your  price  about  5000^  ;  because  any 
young  Gentleman  travelling  through  the  Colony,  as  I 
said  before,  is  presumed  to  be  acquainted  with  Danc- 
ing, Boxing,  playing  the  Fiddle,  &  Small-Sword,  & 
Cards.  Several  of  which  you  was  only  entering 
upon,  when  I  left  New-Jersey  ;  towards  the  Close 
of  last  year  ;  and  if  you  stay  here  any  time  your 
Barrenness  in  these  must  be  detected.  I  will,  however, 
allow,  that  in  the  Family  where  you  act  as  tutor  you 
place  yourself,  according  to  your  most  acute  Calcula- 
tion, at  a  perfect  equidistance  between  the  father  & 
the  eldest  Son.  Or  let  the  same  distance  be  observed 
in  every  article  of  behaviour  between  you  &  the  eldest 
Son,  as  there  ought  to  be,  by  the  latest  &  most  ap- 
proved precepts  of  Moral-Philosophy,  between  the 
eldest  Son  &  his  next  youngest  Brother.  But  when- 
ever you  go  from  Home,  where  you  are  to  act  on 
your  own  footing,  either  to  a  Ball  ;  or  to  a  Horse- 
Race ,  or  to  a  Cock-Figbty  or  to  a  Fisb-Feastf  I 
advise  that  you  rate  yourself  very  low  &  if  you  bett 
at  all,  remember  that  10,000^  in  Reputation  & 
learning  does  not  amount  to  a  handfull  of  Shillings  in 

ready  Cash  ! One  considerable  advantage  which 

you  promise  yourself  by  coming  to  this  Colony  is  to 
extend  the  limits  of  your  acquaintance  ;  this  is  laud- 
able, &  if  you  have  enough  of  prudence  &  firmness, 

it  will  be  a  singular  advantage Yet  attempt  slowly 

&  with  the  most  Jealous  Circumspection If  you 

fix   your  familiarity  wrong   in  a  single   instance,  you 


VIRGINIA   AND    NEW   JERSEY.         327 

are  in  danger  of  total,  if  not  immediate  ruin 


You  come  here,  it  is  true,  with  an  intention  to  teach, 
but  you  ought  likewise  to  have  an  inclination  to  learn. 
At  any  rate  I  solemnly  injoin  it  upon  you,  that  you 
netfer  suffer  the  Spirit  of  a  Pedagogue  to  attend  you 
without  the  walls  o{  your  little  Seminary.  In  all 
promiscuous  Company  be  as  silent  &  attentive  as 
Decency  will  allow  you,  for  you  have  nothing  to 
communicate,  which  such  company,  will  hear  with 
pleasure,  but  you  may  learn  many  things  which,  in 

after  life,  will  do  you  singular  service. In  regard 

to  Company  in  general,  if  you  think  it  worth  your 
while  to  attend  to  my  example,  I  can  easily  instruct 
you  in  the  manner  of  my  Conduct  in  this  respect. 
I  commonly  attend  Church  ;  and  often,  at  the  request 
of  Gentlemen,  after  Service  according  to  the  custom, 
dine  abroad  on  Sunday 1  seldom  fail,  when  in- 
vited by  MT.  &  Mr.s  Carter,  of  going  out  with  them  ; 
but  I  make  it  a  point,  however  strongly  solicited  to 

the  contrary,  to  return  with  them  too Except  in 

one  of  these  cases,  I  seldom  go  out,  but  with  a  valu- 
able variety  of  books  live  according  to  Horace's  direc- 
tion. &  love  "  Secretum  Iter  et  fallentis  Semita 
Vitas."  Close  retirement  and  a  life  by  Stealth. 
The  last  direction  I  shall  venture  to  mention  on  this 
head,  is,  that  you  abstain  totally  from  Women.  What 
I  would  have  you  understand  from  this,  is,  that  by  a 
train  of  faultless  conduct  in  the  whole  course  of  your 
tutorship,  you  make  every  Lady  within  the  Sphere  of" 
your  acquaintance,  who  is  between  twelve  &  forty 
years  of  age,  so  much  pleased  with  your  person,  & 
so  satisfied  as  to  your  ability  in  the  capacity  of  a 
Teacher  ;    &  in   short,  fully  convinced,  that,  from   a 


328  PHILIP  VICKERS   FITHIAN. 

principle  of  Duty,  you  have,  both  by  night  and  by 
day  endeavoured  to  acquit  yourself  honourably,  in 
the  Character  of  a  Tutor  ;  &  that,  on  this  account, 
you  have  their  free  and  hearty  consent,  without  mak- 
ing any  manner  of  demand  upon  you,  either  to  stay 
longer  in  the  County  with  them,  which  they  would 
choose,  or  whenever  your  business  calls  you  away, 
that  they  may  not  have  it  in  their  Power  either  by 
charms  or  Justice  to  detain  you,  &  when  you  must 
leave  them,  have  their  sincere  wishes  &  constant 
prayrs  for  Length  of  days  &  much  prosperity,  I  there- 
fore beg  that  you  will  attend  literally  to  this  advice,  & 
abstain  totally  from  Women.  But  this  last  precaution, 
which  I  have  been  at  some  pains  to  dress  in  the  plain- 
est language,  I  am  much  inclined  to  think,  will  be 
wholly  useless  in  regard  to  you,  notwithstanding  it  is 
founded  in  Honor  and  Equity  which  is  on  all  hands 
allow' d  to  be  due  from  one  Sex  to  the  other,  &  to 
many  of  your  age,  &  Standing  would  be  entirely 
salutary.  Because  the  necessary  connections  which 
you  have  had  with  the  Fair,  from  your  Puberty 
upwards  have  been  so  unfavourable  &  ill-fated,  that 
instead  of  apprehending  any  danger  on  the  score  of 
your  fondness,  I  am  fearful  your  rancour  has  grown  so 
inveterate  at  length,  as,  not  only  to  preserve  you,  in 
thought  &  practice,  pure  of  every  Fleshly  foible,  but 
has  carried  you  so  far  towards  the  other  extreme,  that 
you  will  need  many  persuasions,  when  your  circum- 
stances shall  seem  to  require  it,  to  bring  you  back  to 
a  rational  &  manly  habit  of  thinking  &  acting  with 
respect  to  the  Sex  ;  which  yet,  after  all  (&  eternally 
will  continue  to  be,  tho'  it  is  so  much  courted  & 
whined  after)  if  considered  in  the  fullest  manner,  & 


VIRGINIA   AND    NEW   JERSEY.         329 

set  forth  to  the  best  advantage,  never  rising  above  its 
divine  definition  Viz  '*  The  weaker  Vessel."  But 
without  detaining  you  any  longer  with  a  matter  merely 
depending  on  accident  or  Circumstance  I  pass  on  to 
the  second  General  Head  ;  in  which  tf  Ludis  atque 
Jocis  amotis"  I  shall  offer  to  your  consideration  and 
recommend  for  your  practice  several  Rules  concerning 
the  management  of  the  School.    ... 

When  you  enter  among  a  people,  &  find  that  their 
manner  of  living,  their  Eating,  Drinking,  Diversions, 
Exercise,  &c,  are  in  many  respects  different  from  any- 
thing you  have  been  accustomed  to,  you  will  be  apt 
to  fix  your  opinion  in  an  instant,  &  (as  some  divines 
deal  with  poor  Sinners)  you  will  condemn  all  before 
you  without  any  meaning  or  distinction  what  seems 
in  your  judgment  disagreeable  at  first  view,  when  you 
are  smitten  with  the  novelty.  You  will  be  making 
ten  thousand  Comparisons.  The  face  of  the  Country, 
The  Soil,  the  Buildings,  the  Slaves,  the  Tobacco,  the 
method  of  spending  Sunday  among  Christians  ;  Ditto 
among  the  Negroes  ;  the  three  grand  divisions  of  time 
at  the  Church  on  Sundays,  Viz.  before  Service,  giv- 
ing &  receiving  letters  of  business,  reading  Advertise- 
ments, consulting  about  the  price  of  Tobacco,  Grain, 
&c.  &  settling  either  the  lineage,  Age,  or  qualities  of 
favourite  Horses.  2.  In  the  Church  at  Service, 
prayrs  read  over  in  haste,  a  Sermon  seldom  under 
&  never  over  twenty  minutes,  but  always  made  up 
of  sound  morality,  or  deep  studied  Metaphysicks. 
3.  After  Service  is  over  three  quarters  of  an  hour 
spent  in  strolling  round  the  Church  among  the  Crowd, 
in  which  time  you  will  be  invited  by  several  different 
Gentlemen   home  with  them  to  dinner.      The  Balls, 


330  PHILIP   VICKERS   FITHIAN. 

the  Fish-Feasts,  the  Dancing-Schools,  the  Christnings, 
the  Cock  fights,  the  Horse- Races,  the  Chariots,  the 
Ladies  Masked,  for  it  is  a  custom  among  the  West- 
morland Ladies  whenever  they  go  from  home,  to 
muffle  up  their  heads,  &  Necks,  leaving  only  a  narrow 
passage  for  the  Eyes,  in  Cotton  or  silk  handkerchiefs ; 
I  was  in  distress  for  them  when  I  first  came  into  the 
Colony,  for  every  Woman  that  I  saw  abroad,  I  looked 
upon  as  ill  either  with  the    Mumps  or  Tooth-Ach  ! 

1  say,  you  will  be  often  observing  &  comparing 

these  things  which  I  have  enumerated,  &  many  more 
that  now  escape  me,  with  the  manner  of  spending 
Money  time  &  credit  at  Cohansie  :  You  are  young, 
&,  (you  will  allow  me  the  Expression)  in  the  morn- 
ing of  Life.  But  I  hope  you  have  plann'd  off,  and 
entered  upon  the  work  which  is  necessary  to  be  per- 
formed in  the  course  of  your  Day  ;  if  not,  I  think  it 
my  duty  to  acquaint  you,  that  a  combination  of  the 
amusements  which  I  have  just  now  mentioned,  being 
always  before  your  Eyes,  &  inviting  your  Compliance 
will  have  a  strong  tendency  to  keep  you  doubtful  & 
unsettled,  in  your  notions  of  Morality  &  Religion,  or 
else  will  fix  you  in  a  false  &  dangerous  habit  of  think- 
ing &  acting,  which  must  terminate  at  length  in  Sor- 
row &  despair.  You  are  therefore,  if  you  count 
anything  upon  the  value  of  my  advice,  to  fix  the 
plan  in  which  you  would  spend  your  life  :  let  this  be 
done  with  deliberation,  Candour,  &  precision,  look- 
ing to  him  for  direction,  by  fervent  Prayr,  who  is  the 
'*  Wonderful  Counsellor"  ;  &  when  you  have  done 
this,  let  no  importunity  of  whatever  kind  prevail  over 
you,  &  cause  you  to  transgress  your  own  Limitations. 
I  have  already  exceeded  the  usual  bounds  of  an  Epistle. 


VIRGINIA   AND    NEW   JERSEY.         331 

But  you  will  easily  pardon  a  little  prolixity,  when  I 
assure  you  it  flows  from  a  heart  deeply  impressed  with 
a  sense  of  the  many  difficulties  which  you  must  en- 
counter, &  the  dangers  which  will  surround  you  when 
you  come  first  out  from  the  peaceful  recess  of  Con- 
templation, &  enter,  young  and  unexperienced,  into 
the  tumultuous  undiscerning  World.  I  submit  these 
hints  to  your  consideration,  &  have  nothing  more  than 
sincere  &  ardent  wishes  for  your  present  &  perpetual 
Felicity. 

I  am,  Sir, 
To  Ml"  John  Peck,  yours, 

on  going  to  Virginia  in  Phiilip  V.  Fithian. 

Character  of  a  Tutor. 


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BD010H43414 


L 

H 


